Cork City Vocational Education Committee, minutes, financial records, including Schools of Art, Science, Music and Design, 1849-1980.
Vocational Education Committee of County Cork (formerly County of Cork Joint Committee of Technical Instruction), Minutes, 5 Oct 1903 - 24 Jan 1974
Acts of 1889 and 1891 provided for the levying of a local rate of 1d. in the pound for the purposes of technical instruction and agriculture. The Committee was established in 1900 by the County Council under the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act 1899, which provided that the Council of each County borough would establish a local statutory committee, which in the case of County Cork took place under a joint scheme that included each urban county district. The local committees prepared annual schemes of technical instruction which were subject to approval by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction and involved both local rates and departmental funding. The Committee was replaced by the Vocational Education Committee of County Cork in Oct/Nov 1930.
Established c1900, it assumed responsibility for the former municipal/Crawford Schools of Design, Science, Art and Music and Technical Institute. It was replaced c1930 by the City of Cork VEC.
The first meeting of the County VEC was on 5 Nov 1930. It was established by the Vocational Education Act 1930, as the successor to the Technical Instruction Committee. The original purpose of the committee was to administer continuation and technical education for 14 to 16-year-olds. Continuation education was defined as "general and practical training in preparation for employment in trades", while technical education was described as "pertaining to trades, manufacturers, commerce and other industrial pursuits". VECs set up and maintained vocational schools and community colleges. Later responsible for adult education and third level student maintenance grants. Responsible for Cork Regional Technical College (Cork Institute of Technology) until 1992. Each Vocational Education Committee was elected by the county, borough or urban district council and consisted partly of councillors and partly of persons with an "interest and experience in education", such as clergy, and those who could be recommended by bodies "interested in manufacture or trades". The Cork Education and Training Board, established in 2013, is an amalgamation of the Cork County, and Cork City, VECs.
