Sir, – Further to the recent Brian Mooney article "Why aren't we teaching pupils more about the EU?" (Education, January 25th) and subsequent letters of response, it is incumbent on me as director of the Irish National Centre for Guidance in Education (NGCE) and Euroguidance Ireland to respond.
The NCGE, as an agency of the Department of Education, hosts the Euroguidance Centre for Ireland. Euroguidance is an active European network of more than 40 European Commission-funded centres promoting mobility and supporting guidance counsellors’ work with learners and jobseekers. Its focus is on Europe-wide opportunities.
In 2020, to support guidance counsellors in post-primary schools in Ireland, in collaboration with transition year co-ordinators, NCGE launched the “Euro-Quest” module.
Using “Europe” as the common theme, Euro-Quest is a free-to-use resource promoting educational mobility and providing knowledge and understanding of EU citizenship. Students develop career research skills to consider the opportunities available in education, training and work across Europe. Quantitative feedback from schools to date shows a significant increase in students’ knowledge regarding the history of the EU, pertaining to their rights and abilities to travel, study and work in the EU and an increased level of desire to undertake a period of learning abroad. Euroguidance Ireland, as part of NCGE, is now focussing on adapting this resource to learners attending further education and training programmes.
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So, rest assured, the importance of our place within Europe and the promotion of opportunities afforded by that are being addressed. – Yours, etc,
JENNIFER McKENZIE,
Director,
National Centre
for Guidance
in Education,
Dublin 1.