An apprenticeship scheme for RTÉ

Sir, – In light of the controversies about RTÉ to do with extreme remuneration gaps between the few and the majority of staff, there needs to be some radical changes in RTÉ that would make its ethos and mission what we should expect from our public service broadcaster.

I suggest that one such radical change would be an apprenticeship scheme in RTÉ for school-leavers, college graduates and career changers. This scheme would be aimed at widening access to training and careers in our public broadcaster. It should be embedded within our national apprenticeship framework and our Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) accreditation. The BBC has such an apprenticeship scheme – school-leavers, college graduates and career changers can apply for apprenticeships with the BBC in diverse occupations including journalism, accounting and engineering and many other aspects of public service broadcasting. The BBC through its apprenticeship scheme allows participants to gain on the job experience salary training and a formal qualification, in line with the UK’s national apprenticeship scheme and its qualification system.

While RTÉ does have something very vague in its diversity policy about placements and third party partnerships across educational, social and community linkages – this lacks transparency and is not a radical reform. An apprenticeship scheme for RTÉ would make a concrete contribution to reforming RTÉ and to it having the ethos and values we should expect of our public service broadcaster. – Yours, etc,

Cllr JOANNA TUFFY,