The Executive's Draft Programme for Government 2024 - 2027: A Consultation Response from The Open University in Ireland

The Executive's Draft Programme for Government

2024 – 2027

A Consultation Response from The Open University in Ireland

04 November 2024

 

Introduction

The Open University (OU) in Ireland welcomes the opportunity to respond to the ideas put forward in the Northern Ireland Executive's draft Programme for Government (PfG). As the Executive works to deliver meaningful change during the remaining years of its mandate, The OU is committed to fulfilling its role in delivering life-changing learning opportunities to people across Northern Ireland.

We are determined to collaborate with the Executive, the higher and further education sectors and other key stakeholders to ensure an evidence-based and coordinated approach is taken to harness education as part of the solutions to the challenges identified in the PfG.

As Northern Ireland's only university committed to supported distance learning, The OU is uniquely placed to help remove education and employment barriers, and make a meaningful contribution to the Executive's plan.

Our response to the consultation is informed by our research and the experience of our students in Northern Ireland. Our 7,000+ students bring a wide range of life experiences, and many are directly affected by the challenges tackled by the PfG, including but not limited to - the availability of affordable childcare, barriers to employment, and access to healthcare services.

Overview of Our Response

For each of the nine priorities in the draft PfG, The OU’s response will demonstrate how the Executive’s plan connects to our mission and flexible distance learning model. With over 7,000 students in Northern Ireland (in the 2023/24 academic year), and an award-winning research institution, The OU’s response to each priority is evidence based and comprehensively considers the needs of Northern Ireland’s people, the peace between our communities, our prosperity, and our planet.

The OU has enjoyed significant engagement with the Northern Ireland departments and, in recent months, our team has submitted advice to the Department for the Economy on plans to update the employment law framework. We look forward to continuing this engagement, including on the forthcoming Review of Higher Education Funding. Please view our response to the draft PfG as a starting point, and reach out should you require clarification or support from The OU.

Overview of Our Recommendations

  1. Invest in a Sustainable Higher Education and Lifelong Learning model:
    • Provide maintenance support for part-time students; and
    • Invest in flexible student finance options for modular study and for individuals seeking qualifications in strategic growth areas that support the PfG’s objectives.
  2. Recognise the inherent value of Lifelong Learning:
    • Include a right to training leave in any employment law framework updates for “good jobs”; and
    • Legislate for a statutory right to lifelong learning via a standalone Lifelong Learning Bill.
  3. Extend Childcare Grants, the Parental Learning Allowance and Special Support Grants to part-time students.
  4. Expand the Executive’s Delivery Plan to End Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) to include specific and concrete actions to prevent and combat Online VAWG in recognition of the scale of online violence facilitated by technology, in particular the technology used in online and digital environments.
  5. In addition to transforming the education system for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), partner with the Higher Education sector to ensure resources are secured for adult learners with SEN.
  6. In the Cross-Departmental Strategy to Reduce Offending and Re-Offending, recognise the role of Lifelong Learning in the rehabilitation of learners in prisons and secure environments, and support better access to education for people leaving prison.
  7. Increase the Executive's partnership and collaboration with the Higher Education sector, employers and trade unions when building skills for strategic growth areas, including the delivery of housing, health and social care, and the green economy.
  8. In the spirit of partnership, the Executive must include the Higher Education sector in the Reform and Transformation Unit, and the Public Sector Transformation Board.

Chapter 1: Grow a Globally Competitive and Sustainable Economy

The challenge: The PfG identifies a regional imbalance in how the benefits of Northern Ireland's growing economy are felt, and the challenges to growing our economy in a sustainable and fair way.

Background: The OU's social mission to provide education for all complements our role in transitioning to a sustainable and inclusive economy. A growing economy with fair access to good jobs requires a skilled workforce. The OU's flexible approach means we can offer education and upskilling opportunities that support the skills development of individuals otherwise disenfranchised or economically excluded. 19 per cent of our students are from the most deprived parts of Northern Ireland. The OU's close partnership with NI employers informs our curriculum development in a way that assists key growth sectors struggling to recruit appropriately skilled workers.

Our Recommendations

Invest in a sustainable higher education and lifelong learning funding model.

Crucially, the Executive must invest in part-time students who are often from the key groups in society facing additional barriers, including people with disabilities and people with caring responsibilities.

  • a) Provide maintenance support for part-time students.
  • b) Invest in flexible student finance options for modular study and for individuals seeking qualifications in strategic growth areas that support the PfG’s objectives.

Recognise the inherent value of Lifelong Learning

This is core to the Executive’s plan to do what matters most, and to build a better and fairer foundation for future generations.

  • a) Include a right to training leave in any employment law framework updates
  • b) Legislate for a statutory right to lifelong learning via a standalone Lifelong Learning Bill

Case study – The Business Barometer 2024

The OU works in partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce to produce an annual Business Barometer report, analysing the skills landscape across the UK.

The findings of the most recent report resonate with the Executive's efforts to make Northern Ireland a more vibrant and inclusive place to live, work, invest and visit.

Crucially, we found that too few businesses have strategic plans or initiatives to engage vital underrepresented groups such as young people, older workers, those with disabilities and neurodiverse individuals. The OU is committed to helping employers to bridge the skills gap and build a more resilient, inclusive workforce.

The key findings in Northern Ireland stated:

  • 44% of organisations are currently facing skill shortages;
  • 49% say they are not confident about applying green technology;
  • 55% say skills shortages have increased the workload on existing staff;
  • 67% say they are not confident about applying new AI technologies;
  • 35% intend to use short courses with certification, the most popular type of training;
  • 16% say they have implemented a written skills plan for 2024, while 63% have not; and
  • 63% of organisations do not have specific recruitment, retention or training initiatives for targeted groups.

Case Study – OU Student Association Manifesto

The OU Students Association (OUSA), representing OU students across the UK's four nations and beyond, produced a Manifesto for Lifelong Learning and the first ask is for:

A student finance system that supports and enables people to study the way they choose.

"We believe that the student finance system should not be an additional barrier to education. It should be flexible in terms of what students actually want and need: modular study, personal development, upskilling and remote learning at any age. People who choose to study later in life face significantly different financial challenges, including having mortgages, private rent to pay and childcare or other caring costs. They often face difficult choices around whether to reduce their working hours and income to pursue education and cannot necessarily commit face-to-face study on campus."

Chapter 2: Deliver more affordable childcare

The challenge: The PfG identifies a need to make childcare more affordable for parents to support employability and ease financial pressures.

Background: The financial pressures associated with childcare resonate with the OU's student base. The OU's flexible and part-time education options are often attractive to parents who are working while juggling studies, family life and maybe other caring responsibilities. In the 2023/24 academic year, 15 per cent of OU students in Northern Ireland were carers.

Our Recommendation

Extend childcare grants, the parental learning allowance and special support grants to part-time students

It is clear that students who are parents face difficulty when faced with expensive childcare demands. The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme introduced in September 2024 is a welcome development in supporting individuals with caring responsibilities to overcome employment barriers. Further support should recognise that individuals with caring responsibilities, including childcare, require support to access relevant education and upskilling opportunities as an essential part of this process to overcome employment barriers.

Case Study – OU Student Association Manifesto

The OU Students Association (OUSA), representing OU students across the UK's four nations and beyond, produced a Manifesto for Lifelong Learning and the first ask is for a student finance system that supports and enables people to study the way they choose. This includes an ask to ensure that study is financially viable by "extending the availability of the Childcare Grant".

Case Study – The Student Experience

I chose OU mainly because of the flexibility: I had a young child at the time and had to make sure my study could fit around my busy home life.

OU student

Chapter 3: Cut Health Waiting Times

The challenge: The PfG recognises the need for long-term solutions to increase the capacity of Northern Ireland's Health and Social Care system, and the need to address health inequalities and improve the long-term health and wellbeing of our population.

Background: The OU's integration in the health and social care sector in Northern Ireland is clear. We are proud to be working with the six Health and Social Care Trusts, the private care sector and the Department of Health to deliver exceptional training to nurses and social workers. In 2023/24 we had 660 nursing students and 94 social work students studying with us.

Unison doubled the number of students funded on our Introduction to Health & Social Care module this year, thanks to increased funding from the Department for the Economy around Trade Union skills initiatives. With health and social care as our most popular subject area, The OU is clearly responding to need in Northern Ireland.

The OU welcomes the Executive's commitment to addressing health inequalities and improving the long-term health and wellbeing of our population. Doing so will require increased investment in the health and social care workforce.

Our Recommendation

As laid out in Chapter 1, the Executive must invest in a sustainable higher education and lifelong learning funding model, in particular to incentivize learning for individuals seeking qualifications in strategic growth sectors including health and social care.

Case Study – “Take Five to Age Well”

A Public Health Campaign/Research Project, OU Open Societal Challenges programme

The OU’s “Take Five to Age Well” (Take5) campaign offers a great platform for public health policy design. Take5 involves a month-long pledge empowering individuals to create new, healthier routines and, in many cases, to sustain the newly created routines for a prolonged period. Over 3,200 participants UK-wide signed up to a pilot run of the pledge in September 2023. Take5 will re-run in May 2025 with Age UK as the main partner (funded by The OU’s Open Societal Challenges programme). Jointly, we will work to engage wider audiences, reaching more diverse communities, keeping the pledge accessible to all, and tackling not only ageing well but also health inequalities in the long run.

Case Study – Student Success

The first group of students to complete the BA (Honours) Social Work graduate in Belfast in May 2024.

Chapter 4: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

The challenge: The PfG identifies a need to tackle the root causes of violence, abuse and harm against women and girls; to support victims and survivors; and to hold perpetrators to account.

Background: The OU agrees strongly with the prioritisation of ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the PfG. As a university we seek to have a positive impact on society, including through our research.

An example of The OU's commitment to tackling inequalities is the university's study into societal attitudes and experiences of online violence against women and girls (OVAWG) across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - the largest ever UK study of its kind. The report is titled, "Online Violence Against Women: A Four Nations Study" and was designed and led by OU Professor Olga Jurasz who also leads The OU's Centre for Protecting Women Online, an interdisciplinary unit focusing on research, policy engagement and creating social impact in relation to women's online safety. Jurasz's report informs The OU's response to the PfG's proposed action to end VAWG, and our subsequent recommendations.

Equipped with this UK-wide research, and Northern Ireland specific analysis, The OU stands ready to collaborate with the Executive to end VAWG.

Our Recommendation

Expand the Executive's delivery plan to End Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) to include specific and concrete actions to prevent and combat Online VAWG in recognition of the scale of online violence facilitated by technology, in particular the technology used in online and digital environments.

Case Study – Key Findings from OU research

Northern Ireland sample base: 1053 respondents (516 men, 537 women)

"Listen to the victims. I was one of them and the PSNI ignored it despite significant injuries to myself. There is so much injustice here. You are more likely to be prosecuted over another minor offence like speeding than serious abuse. No faith at all."

Anonymous participant, Northern Ireland, when asked what more the governments could be doing to prevent and respond to VAWG both online and offline.

  • Most people from Northern Ireland (71%) found OVAWG to be primarily a societal problem. 15% saw it as a primarily legal problem and only 4% as a public health problem. This view was more represented amongst ethnic minorities (13%) than participants who identified as white (3%). Most respondents (70%) agreed that women and girls are more likely to be targeted by online violence than men and boys.
  • Online violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland is most rife on X (formerly Twitter), followed by Facebook and Instagram.
  • Support for new laws to tackle OVAWG is significant amongst Northern Ireland, but women and older people are more supportive of this than men. Men are also more likely to think that OVAWG legislation would limit their freedom of expression.
  • 64% of women in Northern Ireland report a negative impact of online violence on their mental health and wellbeing.
  • Even though Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of LGB+ women experiencing OVAWG, heterosexual women in this nation are more likely to report that the OVAWG they experienced had a negative impact on their ability to work than LGB+ women.
  • In Northern Ireland, more than any other nation, women are hesitant to disclose if the OVAWG they experienced was sexually explicit. Men in Northern Ireland appear to witness sexually explicit OVAWG more commonly than women in Northern Ireland report experiencing it.
  • Out of the four nations, women in Northern Ireland are most likely to report incidents of online violence to the police.
  • Young women in Northern Ireland are significantly more likely to say that they did not know how to report the incident than women their age in the other three nations.
  • 53% of women said that the experience of online violence had a negative impact on their ability to express views online. 1 in 2 people think that women and girls may feel silenced after experiencing online violence. Out of all four nations, women in Northern Ireland most commonly report that their experience of online violence negatively impacted their ability or willingness to express their views online and led them to put protective measures in place.

Chapter 5: Better Support for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs

The challenge: The PfG recognises the need for systemic transformation to ensure our education systems work for all learners.

Background: The OU ensures that any OU student declaring a disability or additional need is offered advice and support through our Student Support Team, including the provision of reasonable adjustments, access to equipment and services, special exam arrangements and advice and support with applying for Disabled Student's Allowance.

The OU also has strong links with disability organisations and community-leaders in Northern Ireland who widely promote the opportunities for students who may need to learn in a more accessible manner.

Our Recommendation

Adults with special educational needs (SEN) can face additional barriers to participating in lifelong learning opportunities.

In addition to transforming the education system for children with SEN, partner closely with the higher education sector to ensure resources are secured for adult learners with SEN.

This is essential to ensure the Executive's other priorities are achieved, including building an inclusive workforce to ensure the benefits of a growing economy are fairly distributed.

Case Study – The Student Experience

I never believed I could achieve a qualification let alone a degree. I worked at my own pace and the support I was given throughout gave me the ability to succeed. I cannot thank the OU enough for making me achieve, what was in my eyes, unachievable.

OU student

Case Study – OU Student Association Manifesto

The OU Students Association (OUSA), representing OU students across the UK’s four nations and beyond, produced a Manifesto for Lifelong Learning and the first ask is for a student finance system that supports and enables people to study the way they choose. This includes an ask to:

"Improve access to diagnosis and healthcare support for students with additional learning needs at any age by:

  • Pursuing a joined-up approach to diagnosis of additional educational needs at any age that includes the health and social care services and education sector.
  • Ensure that higher education institutions are adequately resourced to provide support for students with additional educational needs, including apprenticeship providers."

Chapter 6: Provide More Social, Affordable and Sustainable Housing

The challenge: The PfG recognises the need for good housing to support health and wellbeing and for inclusivity. The Executive is proposing to improve quality across the whole housing system, including improving energy efficiency and preventing homelessness.

Background: The OU's close partnerships with NI employers means our courses, from undergraduate degrees to microcredentials, are shaped by the needs identified by employers facing skill gaps.

Our Recommendation

The Executive must work in close collaboration with the higher education sector, employers and trade unions when considering which skills are needed in strategic growth areas, including the delivery of housing that is sustainable and inclusive.

Case study – Higher Education Pathways

The OU works with all six Further Education colleges in Northern Ireland to build Higher Education (HE) pathways. We now validate over 50 higher education qualifications through all six further education colleges, meeting the needs of students and supporting local industry skills gaps. 913 students were registered on OU validated programmes in 2023/24.

In terms of the Executive's priority to provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing, The OU has recently validated courses with Northern Regional College, including a Foundation Degree in Housing Practice. This course has been co-designed with Housing employers from across Northern Ireland to ensure the programme delivered is economically relevant, demand led and responsive to local industry needs.

Case Study – Partnership with Trade Unions

The OU in Ireland works in partnership with a number of trade unions under a formal partnership with the NI Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Through this partnership, we have created a learning hub on OpenLearn which features free formal and informal learning materials designed to support employability and upskilling for workers.

Chapter 7: Safer Communities

The challenge: The Executive has identified a need for increased prison capacity to support rehabilitation as the prison population increases.

Background: The OU is already working to support rehabilitation in NI’s prisons. OU students in secure environments have been gaining OU qualifications for many years. As the prime provider of Higher Education within the prison estate, we are aiding the NI Prison Service in its efforts to reduce recidivism, enable greater employability prospects for students upon release from prison, and increasing the wellbeing and confidence for students in prison.

The OU seeks to widen access and participation to the widest range of students, including those with criminal convictions. We have 165 students from prisons across the island of Ireland. This work continues to grow with a 20% increase in numbers in the last year.

As an OU student leaving prison, the university continues to provide support through our Students in Secure Environments (SiSE) Team. SiSE has over 40 years’ experience working with criminal justice agencies across the UK and beyond and are supported by a Ministry of Justice contract to undertake support for students in prisons, secure hospitals and those with unspent criminal convictions studying in the community. The students are also supported locally via our Students in Secure Environment Manager and the Student Support Team based in Belfast.

Our Recommendation

In the cross-departmental Strategy to Reduce Offending and Re-Offending, recognise the role of Lifelong Learning in the Rehabilitation of Learners in prisons and secure environments and support better access to education for people leaving prison.

By crediting the role of lifelong learning in rehabilitation, the Executive can increase the opportunities for a new start for those with criminal convictions when they return to their communities.

Case Study – Justice Data Lab analysis: Reoffending behaviour after support from The Open University (2019)

This analysis looked at the reoffending behaviour of 2,611 adults who participated in The OU Programme of Higher Education in prisons. Though the results are specific to England and Wales, the headline results are helpful in demonstrating the returns of investing in education to decrease reoffending.

Chapter 8: Protecting Lough Neagh and the Environment

The challenge: The PfG recognises the need for urgent action at Lough Neagh and for the natural environment more generally.

Background: The OU builds skills for sustainability through our wide-ranging, flexible curriculum and learning resources, underpinned by high quality research and learning design. The OU has been delivering renewable energy education for over 25 years and has the largest undergraduate Environmental Science programme in the UK, accounting for around one in five of all BSc Environmental Science undergraduates.

OUil has indicated to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) that we will make voluntary reports under the Climate Change (Reporting Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our operations, upskilling our people and being accountable for our sustainability activity.

In relation to the PfG's priority, The OU recognises that climate action and reaching net zero in a way that is affordable for households and businesses will require a motivated and skilled workforce. Furthermore, research and innovation must be at the heart of environmental solutions.

Our Recommendation

The Executive must partner and collaborate with the higher education sector when looking at an inclusive approach to build talent and skills in the green economy.

Case Study – Open Societal Challenges

The Open Societal Challenges (OSC) Programme at The OU is an interdisciplinary and inclusive research initiative that aims to tackle some of the most important challenges of our time, including climate change, through impact-driven research. The Programme's aim is to apply the research excellence of OU academics to some of the most pressing societal challenges facing people across the UK and worldwide to transform lives. The Programme's focus on the themes of Tackling Inequalities, Living Well, and Sustainability aligns with the OU mission to be open to people, places, methods, and ideas. Two OSC research projects have been referenced in this document already. They are: "Online Violence Against Women: A Four Nations Study" and the "Take Five to Age Well" project.

Chapter 9: Reform and Transformation of Public Services

The challenge: The PfG recognises the need for reform and transformation of our public services and proposes that partnership working is essential to make service delivery sustainable in the long-term, while also working in a reduced mandate and with reduced spending power.

Background: The OU's engagement with the Executive and the Assembly is welcome and has produced many successes in recent months, including the recent launch of a free online maths course through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and over 6,000 students have registered on postgraduate and microcredential short courses since the Department for the Economy's Skill Up Initiative began four years ago.

Our Recommendation

In the spirit of partnership, the Executive must include the higher education sector in the Reform and Transformation Unit, and Public Sector Transformation Board.

Including The OU in these conversations will bring academic expertise and the perspectives of a diverse community of students to help include all voices in Northern Ireland's communities.

This will ensure the Executive is working towards a common purpose which must include an appropriately skilled workforce.

Case Study – PolicyWISE

Demonstrative of The OU’s strong engagement with government, and our strength in supporting policymaking is ‘PolicyWISE’ – an academic initiative by The OU, and the first and only of its kind to lead comparative policy research and knowledge exchange across the nations of the UK and Ireland. PolicyWISE partners policymakers and academics in and across each nation to solve policy challenges. PolicyWISE’s work is UK and Ireland by design, supporting policymakers and researchers across the nations to develop relationships, respect and knowledge. For examples of PolicyWISE’s work, see the latest ‘Wise in 5’ briefing on teenage vaping – these are snapshot comparative guides to public policy issues across the UK and Ireland.

References