Noel Dempsey Minister of Education and Science Noel Dempsey 1953, has been the Minister of Education and Science of Ireland since June 2000. Mr. Dempsey is a former career guidance counsellor and holds a BA, HdipEd, as well as diplomas in Career Guidance and in Youth Leadership. He belongs to the Fianna Fáil party.In addition to his current role, Mr. Dempsey has served in a succession of Ministerial roles, including Minister for Environment and Local Government, Government Chief Whip and the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works. Mr. Dempsey has been a Dáil Deputy since 1987.

Importance of quality education for all

Human resources are each nation’s greatest asset. They are central to the creation and transmission of knowledge and a key determining factor in each society’s potential for innovation. Investment in education and training is a key factor in generating sustainable growth and employment.

It is essential to strengthen synergies and complementarity between education and other policy areas such as employment, research and innovation and macro economic policy

I congratulate UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education for providing a focus on quality in education at this time.

Students are entitled to the highest possible standard of teaching and to be facilitated in the attainment of the highest quality of learning. National authorities should ensure and promote the highest standard of education and learning for all. This entails a variety of interdependent factors, including the quality of the curriculum, teaching and assessment and the quality of teachers in schools, school and institutional management, and planning processes. In addition to the determination of a policy framework for each of these areas, national authorities should also develop rigorous procedures for the evaluation of educational effectiveness and outcomes, with due regard to the legitimate autonomy of individual institutions.

Quality is brought about by maximizing the efforts of all those responsible for the education of students and by co-ordinating all the structures of the system so that centres of education, from pre-school to university, are effective – that is, places where effective teaching, learning and research take place and where the highest standards of achievement are obtained by every student, appropriate to their ability.