This document discusses identifying future skills needs for languages in Ireland. It provides background on data sources used to analyze the labor market and outlines what the data shows about current language skills and demands. It also discusses issues and challenges in identifying language skills needs, such as improving data on language study and proficiency levels required for jobs. Determining the specific languages needed and matching language education to labor market demands are ongoing challenges.

1. Identifying Future Skills Needs:
issues and challenges for languages
Nora Condon
Skills and Labour Market Research Unit
FÁS
March 21st 2012

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Background
Examples of what the data tells us
Languages – what we know
Issues & challenges that arise in identifying
language skills needs in Ireland’s labour
market

3. BACKGROUND: INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK
Expert Group on Future Skills Needs
FORFÁS
(Government
advisory body SLMRU (FÁS) Outside Consultants
on science &
innovation)

4. DATA SOURCES
Central Statistics Office (Census data; QNHS data)
Education Providers
Job Vacancy Data
ESRI/FAS Occupational Forecasts
Other
• Immigration data
• Announcements in media (jobs, possible future expansion)
• SLMRU Recruitment Agency Survey

5. EXAMPLE: POPULATION BY AGE AND LABOUR
STATUS, QUARTER 4 2010
Population
4.5 million
Children (< 15) Working age
65 and older
972,100 population (15-64)
517,300
3 million
In Not in In
employment employment employment
1.8 million 1.2 million 44,000
Unemployed Inactive
298,000 917,600
Source: SLMRU analysis of CSO (QNHS) data

6. What jobs do people do?
Employment by broad occupation 2010
Employment (000s)
Farmers 68
Operatives 136
Labourers 145
Sales 163
Craft 179
Associate professional 193
Services 234
Clerks 236
Managers 240
Professionals 253
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
6
Source: SLMRU Analysis of CSO (QHNS) Data

7. EMPLOYMENT BY EDUCATION, QUARTER 4 2010
17%
27%
17% 38%
Lower Secondary and Below
Upper Secondary/FET
Third Level Certificate/Below Honours Degree
Third Level Honours Degree or Above
Source: SLMRU Analysis of CSO (QHNS) Data

8. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY AGE AND
EDUCATION
5%
Third level or
7%
above
18%
9%
Upper secondary
15%
or FET
28%
12%
Lower secondary
24%
or less
49%
55+ 25-54 <25
Source: SLMRU Analysis of CSO (QHNS) Data

9. Education System: Inflows
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Births Junior Infants Junior Cycle Entrants
Data on births refers to calendar year; junior infant & junior cycle data refers to
academic year (i.e. Sept-June)
Source: CSO; DES
9

10. Full-time Enrolment Projections (DES)
Rising enrolments across all sectors, even with
large-scale emigration and a fall in fertility rates
Primary Level +31,000 536,500 by 2014
Second Level +15,000
331,900 by 2014
Higher +29,000 190,000 by 2014
Source: DES (2011) Projections of Full-time Enrolments : Primary, Second &
Higher Level, 2011-2031
10

11. EDUCATION: INFLOWS & OUTFLOWS (Computing
Courses – NFQ 8)
5000
4,315
4000
3,230
3000
2010*
2000 2011*
1,380 1,427
868
754
1000
0
CAO acceptances Total Enrolments Graduates
*CAO Data = 2010 & 2011
Enrolment data (HEA) = 2008/2009 & 2009/2010
Graduate data (HEA) = 2009 & 2010

12. CURRENT DEMAND: VACANCIES IN 2011
• The overall number of newly advertised vacancies in
2011 was higher than in 2010 for both FÁS and Irish
jobs.ie (although significantly lower than at the peak
in 2007)
• There were initial (albeit small) signs of a recovery in
the number of jobs advertised for some occupations
(e.g. managers, professionals)
12

13. CURRENT DEMAND: VACANCIES IN 2011
Vacancies were most frequent for:
Sales, marketing and customer service
• business associate professionals (e.g. sales accounts and business
development managers)
• sales occupations (e.g. retail sales assistants)
• customer service occupations
Science and engineering professionals
• IT professionals (e.g. programmers/software developers, IT business
analysts, web designers, IT specialist managers)
• design and development engineers
• process engineers
Business professionals
• financial project management professionals, chartered
accountants, management consultants and business analysts, regulatory
professionals, quality control professionals
13

14. CURRENT DEMAND: VACANCIES IN 2011
Administrative occupations
Science and engineering associate professionals
• IT associate professionals
• engineering technicians
• laboratory technicians
Corporate managers and directors
14

15. CURRENT DEMAND: VACANCIES IN 2011
A third level qualification was required for a significant
share of all newly advertised vacancies
The data suggests that the demand is mostly limited to
experienced candidates
Language skills
• a prerequisite for many newly advertised vacancies, particularly
in sales customer care activities, but also at professional
level (e.g. ICT, engineering, finance)
• a variety of languages were in demand, predominantly
German, French and Nordic languages
15

16. CURRENT DEMAND: SHORTAGES
The results from the recruitment agency survey suggest that
difficult to fill vacancies exist for a number of occupations, e.g.
• ICT professionals (e.g. software and web development, gaming
technology, mobile technology)
• engineering experts (e.g. production/process, quality
control, industry regulatory compliance specialists, research and
design, electrical)
• scientists (e.g. microbiologists, chemists, biological analysts)
• finance specialists (senior auditors, analysts (financial, risk and
recovery), regulatory affairs specialists)
• healthcare professionals (e.g. doctors, senior specialist
nurses, geriatric nurses)
16

17. LEAVING CERT SITS FOR LANGUAGES
2007-2011
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
60
Thousands
50
40 French
28 28 28 28 German
30 27
Spanish
20 Total Sits
10 8 7 8 7 7
3 3 3 4 4
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Source: State Examinations Commission

18. WHAT IRISH LEAVING CERT
STUDENTS LEARN
Language Leaving Cert % of all Leaving 2007
Sits 2011* Cert Sits** 2011 %
Total LC Sits in 2011 54,000 100%
French 27,000 49% 55%
German 7,000 13% 15%
Spanish 4,000 7% 5%
Italian 400 1% 1%
Source: State Examinations Commission
*Numbers have been rounded
** Leaving Certificate Established and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programmes
***

19. STUDENTS SITTING 2 OF THE FOLLOWING LC
FOREIGN LANGUAGES (2010)
French German Spanish Italian Russian Japanese Total
French - 319 249 50 95 44 757
German 319 - 56 20 43 12 450
Spanish 249 56 - 24 15 12 356
Italian 50 20 24 - 1 2 97
Russian 95 43 15 1 - 2 156
Japanese 44 12 12 2 2 - 72
Source: State Examinations Commission

20. NON-CURRICULAR* LANGUAGE SITS
2007 Sits 2011 Sits
Polish 53 574
Lithuanian 61 254
Romanian 25 115
Others** 40 122
Latvian 32 111
Portuguese 27 57
Dutch 16 29
Total 254 1,262
Source: State Examinations Commission
*Not part of the LC curriculum but students from an EU member state and who speak the language as a
mother tongue may opt to be examined in that language.
** Others: Slovakian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Modern Greek, Finnish, & Estonian

21. LANGUAGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
2009/2010 enrolments (foreign languages) =
c1,400?
Only includes those who study foreign languages
only
Excludes those who combine a language with
another subject such as history, economics or
computing
2009/2010 enrolments (total enrolments) ?

22. ERASMUS STUDENTS
Outgoing students on Erasmus = 1,836
Source: European Commission
*Numbers include students going abroad to higher education institutions and on work placements.
**Includes: Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Finland, among others.

23. ERASMUS STUDENTS AS A SHARE OF
GRADUATES, 2009 (%)
12
11
10
10 10
9 9
8 8
8 8
7
7 7 7
6 6 6
6
5
5 5 5
4
4 4
3 3
2
2 2 2
1
1
0
Source: European Commission

24. JOB VACANCIES WHICH SPECIFIED LANGUAGE
SKILLS IN OCT. 2011
Language Share of Share of Irish Share of FÁS
Irishjob.ie Times Vacancies with
Vacancies with Vacancies with Language Skills
Language Skills Language Skills (5%)
(10%) (5%)
German 27% 31% 48%
French 23% 26% 21%
Nordic 14% 14% 5%
(Swedish, Danish &
Dutch)
Italian/Spanish 14% - 17%
2+ Languages 6% - 2%
Others/Unspecified 16% 29% 8%

25. LARGEST GOODS EXPORT COUNTRIES* 2011
25%
20%
15%
23%
10%
18%
16%
12%
5%
7%
4% 5%
2% 3% 3% 3% 3%
0%
Source: CSO (March 2012) *in terms of value share

26. ISSUES: CHICKEN AND EGG SCENARIO
What is the reality of the situation?
Is it that ….
Ireland does not export to foreign language markets because they
do not have language skills
or
Irish people don’t learn languages because Ireland does not export
to those markets
EGFSN report 2005 : The demand and supply of foreign language skills in
the enterprise sector

27. THE FUTURE: LANGUAGE SKILLS ALONE ARE INSUFFICIENT
If almost 50% of the population have a degree, graduates will
need something ‘extra’
Need to look beyond the academic qualification
• Study/work abroad (e.g. Erasmus) – valued by employers
• Develop a skills mix is important
• ICT with business (e.g. entrepreneurship skills) and/or language
• Marketing with languages and/or ICT skills
• Engineering with business and/or languages
• Science with business, innovation and/or languages
A language module compulsory in higher education? It is the
case in most European countries (except UK)
Compulsory study abroad? (note number going to the UK or
taking English modules in some countries)

28. LANGUAGES: CHALLENGES
1. Improve data capturing/reporting mechanisms on
the supply side to establish
• Numbers studying languages
• Level achieved – comparable across institutions
and internationally
• Applies especially to higher education
• But also further education, where it occurs

29. LANGUAGES: CHALLENGES
2. On the demand side, identify the level of
proficiency required for jobs and to differentiate
between the jobs
• To do business abroad
• Cultural awareness sufficient? (e.g. engineering/ICT)
• To sell products abroad (including contact centres)
• A very high level of foreign language
• To create a market for products abroad
• Irish made products in foreign markets, especially by SMEs?
• To interact with and facilitate tourists to Ireland
3. Identify the languages needed
• We export comparatively little beyond Anglophone
countries and the EU, but will this always be the case?

30. THE CHALLENGE
4. Quantify the number of individuals required with
language skills
5. Match this need to what the education system
can realistically provide
• Some languages are more difficult to learn (compare
Chinese and Italian)
• China, Italy, Spain and Brazil each accounted for 3% of
the value of Ireland’s exports (goods) last year – which
one to learn, if any?
• To provide language education, language teachers are
required
• Primary Level
• Second level?

31. THANK YOU
Further Information on www.skillsireland.ie
EGFSN Forthcoming: Skills for Ireland to Trade
Internationally
Annual Publications (FÁS/EGFSN):
• National Skills Bulletin
• Monitoring Ireland’s Skills Supply
• Vacancy Overview