Education should provide a country’s population with “a common level of understanding of the basic tenets of civilisation,” Further Education Minister James Lawless has said, as he voiced support for more diverse elective modules within the third level system.
Speaking to Gript Media ahead of a cabinet meeting this morning, the Fianna Fáil Minister said that education should be more like a “Renaissance-style” form of “classical education”.
“I think the classical education is to widen the mind, to bring someone up to a certain minimal standard,” Lawless said.
“I think one of the issues we have, and sometimes we tend to see this in online discourse, is that there’s a minimal educational level of understanding that we think is a common good.”
Lawless expressed a desire to see students gain a broader exposure to different subjects rather than being “wedded to a particular discipline for four years.”
“I think it’s a healthy thing for students to be enabled to take a step onto the other side of campus and take a course in humanities, for example – for a science student, to take an elective module in humanities,” he said.
“They may well find it’s an area of better interest to them, they may want to develop that further, or they might find that it’s not for them, but they were glad they tried it.”
The Minister noted that while some institutions like Maynooth University and Trinity College Dublin offer elective modules or two-subject moderatorships, there remains a “wide variation” in how different colleges approach the issue.
Lawless said that the purpose of an education is “twofold” and should produce a base level of literacy in economic, digital, and humanities sectors.
“We can have conversations grounded on science, grounded on fact, and have a common level of understanding of the basic tenets of civilisation,” he said.
“But then of course beyond that, we have to have a productive workforce that can contribute to building our infrastructure, building our economy, and adding value to society.”
Lawless added that the purpose of education is “multifaceted” and that his role is to drive as many of those layers as possible.