Dr Dermot Stokes - Adjunct Professor with FETRC

Dr Dermot Stokes has been appointed as Adjunct Professor to DCUs The Further Education and Training Research Centre (FETRC), within the Institute of Education.  

Throughout his career Professor Stokes has worked as a teacher, curriculum developer, lecturer and researcher. He is one of the most highly regarded experts in the area of Further Education and Training in Ireland end Europe. He was National Coordinator of the Youthreach programme for the Department of Education and Skills from 1988 until his retirement in 2012. He was a member of the Implementation Group for President Higgins’ youth initiative in 2012 and National Expert for the OECD LEED programme’s review of local youth employment strategies in Ireland in 2012/3. The principal focus of Dermot’s work has been young people in transition from childhood to adulthood and the contribution made by VET/FET to that process.

In the course of his career, Dr. Dermot Stokes has been closely involved with key developments in Further Education and Training in Ireland including the Work Experience and VPT programmes that became PLCs and the Youthreach programme which he led from its inception. Inter alia, he was a member of the board of Teastas, the forerunner of the National Qualifications Authority and co-author of Ireland: Vocational Education and Training (1997), an atlas of VET provision across second level, FET and HE. He has authored reports for the Department of Education (on the outcomes of the Second European Community Action Programme on the Transition of Young People from Education to Adult and Working Life), the European Commission (on guidance for young people in difficulty) and the OECD (on local youth employment strategies). His doctoral research examined the matrix of influences on early school leaving in Ireland.His 1987 report Beyond School recorded the experience of educational innovators involved with the European Transition Programmes and contributed to the development of the Youthreach programme. His doctoral research explored the matrix of influences involved in early school leaving.

On his appointment FETRCs director Dr Justin Rami said, ‘Dr Stokes’ appointment is timely and relevant in the context of ongoing developments within the Further and Vocational Education and Training sector, in order to ensure that the needs and requirements of learners, society and the economy are balanced and future-proofed we require a focussed approach to research through mapping and creating interventions that will enhance the capacity of young people and/or returned adults to education and training leading to culture of lifelong learning”.

 Dr Rami went on to say, ‘Dr Stokes brings unrivalled knowledge of the Education and Training sector at a national and European level which will inform our developments in these areas in the coming years. His commitment to enhancing educational opportunity for all sectors of our society is one which resonates with both the Institute of Education and the broader University”

In Feb 2016 Dr Stokes presented a seminal public lecture for FETRC on the evolution of FET in Ireland, the influences and factors that have shaped that evolution and issues arising regarding policy, practice and research both in FET itself and at its intersections with second level and higher education.  The lecture has now been published as part of FETRCs ocassional series papers. Available at: https://goo.gl/DKR8bi