INNOVATIVE EDUCATION:THE ICT sector should link up with Irish secondary schools that have no access to IT innovation by offering work placements, according to Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.

In an interview to be published in this Friday’s Innovation magazine, the Minister said the job placements could be offered to career guidance teachers who could then pass them on to students in transition year.

“The most constructive thing the innovation industries could do at this time is to offer work experience to secondary school students,” said the Minister. “But not just say ‘there’s a desk over there, go play on a computer’. A lot of firms don’t want to take on work experience placements because it takes a lot of time. But a structured work experience programme in the sector would be a very positive contribution.”

In the most recent OECD figures (2011), the percentage of students using a computer in Irish schools was below the overall OECD average.