Dublin North Inner City Dublin
Dublin 1, 3, 7 and 9
Parnell Adult Learning Centre
Dublin North Inner City
Parnell Adult Learning Centre, 1 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1.
We provide a wide range of free adult and community education part time classes both in Parnell Adult Learning Centre and in many other centres in Dublin 1, 3, and 7.
Relevant Services
- Return to Education classes in reading, writing maths & computers
- Next Step Pre-College Course
- De-coding Dyslexia
- Childcare QQI qualifications Levels 1-5
- English Language classes QQI Level 1 -5
- Computers and technology classes
- Art, photography
- Yoga and Tai Chi
- Community Development
- Educational provision to local community centres & services, HSE services, College of Further Education, adult education organisations, parents in primary and secondary schools.
- Drugs Treatment Court
- Foundations Project
Click here for contact details 
Tel: (01) 814 7900 
North Inner City Dublin Courses
Services in this Region
Reading Writing, Spelling, and Maths
We provide free classes for people who want to improve their reading, writing, spelling, maths or digital and computer skills. The service is aimed at adults who want to :- Return to education
- Brush up on reading, writing, maths and digital skills
- Up-skill or re-skill for work
- Gain confidence and work towards a recognised certificate
- Develop the English language skills needed to live, work and study in Ireland
What level are the classes?
You can learn at a level that suits you, whether you are a complete beginner or just want to brush up. If you wish, you can gain a certificate. You can gain certification in modules from QQI levels 2 to 4. We also run lots of non-accredited classes where you can learn for fun with like-minded people.Free Digital Skills Programmes
- Get Smartphone Ready
- Driver Theory Test
- Digital Skills for Jobseekers
- Internet Skills
- Word Processing Skills
- Computer Literacy
- Digital Skills for English Language Learners
- Digital Skills in Preparation for College
- Word Processing, Excel and IT Skills QQI Levels 1-5
We aim to help you at whatever stage you are at.
Small class sizes: 6-8 people
Community Education
The City of Dublin ETB Adult Education Service delivers a comprehensive Community Education programme. We also work closely with our Community Education partners.
A range of different courses are delivered, including:
Access to the Arts:
- Community Drama
- Community Art and Crafts (pottery, weaving, sewing, season crafts and many more)
- Music / Choir
- Creative Writing
Wellbeing
- Health and Fitness, Yoga and Pilates
- Mindfulness
- Personal Development
- Cookery and Healthy Eating
- First Aid
Equality and Social Justice
- Social / Racial Justice & Awareness
- Sustainability and Climate Justice Awareness
- Community Development
Climate Justice Education Strategy
“Climate change is the single greatest threat to a sustainable future but, at the same time, addressing the climate challenge presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all.”
Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General of UN
We are all worried about climate change and what might happen to our planet and to our lives.
CDETB Adult Education Service offers lots of courses that will teach you new skills, as well as giving you information about the climate crisis and opportunities to take action.
• Community Gardening
• Upcycling Fashion
• Bike Maintenance
• Weaving
• Art
• Crafts
• Drama
• Creative Writing
• Cookery
We also offer short courses and workshops so that communities can understand how the climate crisis will affect them and identify solutions that they can take action on:
• Introduction to Climate Justice
• Sustainable Living
• Communities and Climate Action
For information about our courses and workshops, contact our Community Education Team.
Email: [email protected]
(01) 8147900
English Language Classes
The City of Dublin ETB Adult Education Service provides English (ESOL) language programmes for people who have come to live in Ireland, including asylum seekers and refugees, EU and non EU economic migrants.
English for Speakers of Other Languages or ESOL focuses on building the communication skills of the learners. We use cross-cultural approaches that recognise a learner’s other languages/cultures.
We provide a range of free, flexible, part-time English Language classes at a wide range of levels.
- Beginner
- Elementary
- Pre-Intermediate
- Intermediate
- Business English
- Skills for Work Programme
- English language and literacy
We offer courses which have accreditation and more informal courses without accreditation. Our accredited courses are at QQI Levels 2, 3and 4
We prioritise learners who:
- are getting a social welfare payment;
- asylum seekers and people with refugee status;
- people who have less than Leaving Cert standard of education in their country of origin.
- people who do not have literacy in their first language
English Language and Literacy
The Adult Education Service provides classes in English language and literacy to learners who do not read or write well or at all in their first language. These class sizes are generally very small, between 4-6 people.
We have five English Language Co-ordinators, one in each adult education region, who will assess your level of English Language and work with you to help you find the class that best needs your needs.
What does the Adult Education Guidance Service Offer?
The Adult Education Guidance Service helps people to make informed education, career and life choices by providing impartial and confidential Guidance Counselling and Information to adults in relation to their education, training and career options. Our service is free of charge.
You can meet with a professional and qualified Guidance Counsellor or Guidance Information Officer in a confidential setting to discuss your education and training needs. We also provide group information and guidance to adult education classes.
Take a look at our video:
The Adult Education Guidance Service is for adults who:
- Are uncertain about their future.
- Are considering returning to or continuing with education.
- Are having difficulty in finding or keeping suitable employment due to a lack of appropriate education qualifications.
The service is open to both students of the Adult Education Service and the general public.
Our Service is:
- Free of charge
- Impartial – showing you all the options available not just in the City of Dublin ETB.
- Friendly and supportive
- Dedicated to enabling people to realise their full potential in life
The Guidance Counsellor will help you to:
- Identify your unique strengths, experiences and potential.
- Support you to make decisions about your future education.
- Take a step by step approach to achieve your goals.
- Reach your full potential in life.
The Guidance Information Officer can:
- Provide you with all the education options available that suits your needs.
- Research your education and training options.
- Help you understand the funding supports, entry requirements and qualification levels.
How to Contact us
Dublin North and South Inner City:
Regions 3 & 5 (North and South Inner City):
Guidance Counsellors: Pat Buckley
Email: [email protected]
(01)8787495 
086 137 4170
Guidance Information Officer : Grainne Nieto-Smyth
Email: [email protected]
(01)878749 0861084686
Guidance Counsellor: Joyce Gough
Email: [email protected]
(01)8787495 087 061 2149
Guidance Counsellor: Helen Wade
Email: [email protected]
(01) 8787495 086 059 8569
Guidance Counsellor (Soilse): Sinead Mcnerney
Email: [email protected]
(01) 8787495 086 013 7836
Facebook: facebook.com/adult.education.guidance.service.Dublin.Inner.City
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dicaegs
The Back to Education Initiative (BTEI)
The Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) is a service which provides:
- opportunities for young people and adults, who have not completed the Leaving Certificate or equivalent, to participate in a range of part-time accredited educational programmes
- education and training opportunities for low skilled people in employment to upgrade their skills and gain qualifications
- a link to full-time further education and training and a progression route from basic education programmes
- a chance to combine education and training with family, work and other responsibilities through a wide range of flexible options. Childcare support is available where necessary.
Back to Education Initiative courses are free to people
- with less than upper second level education
- in receipt of social welfare payment
- who have a current full medical card
All courses offer certification usually at Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate or QQI Levels 3, 4 and 5 on the National Qualification Framework (NFQ). The BTEI allows people to study part-time. A programme may be offered for anything from 1 hour to 17 hours per week for up to 33 weeks per year.
If you do not qualify for free classes you will be charged a small fee.
Courses offered include: Childcare, Office Skills, Computing, English, Business Studies, Horticulture, Cookery and Art.
Contact your local adult education service for more details.
Foundations Project
Foundations Project is supports people using homeless services. It is a partnership between City of Dublin ETB and the Health Service Executieve( HSE).
We offer programmes and support services to help people move on from homelessness towards education and training or employment.
We provide Adult Education Programmes with a wide range of different subjects and Child and Family Programmes, with after-schools and parents groups.
Our programmes and services are available in our two city centre premises, Parnell Adult Education Centre, Parnell Square and Tilly’s After-Schools Centre, Sean McDermott St Lower.
We work closely with the homeless services and education and training services ensuring that people who are experiencing homelessness have access to information about programmes that may help them to develop new skills and interests and educational qualifications.
All our services are free and are available to anyone who is currently using homeless services, who has experienced homelessness in the past or is at risk of homelessness.
Contact Us
Project Co-ordinator: Clare Schofield
Phone: 878 6658 / 873 6012 (Extension 6)
Mobile Phone: 087 954 2974
Email: [email protected]
Adult Education Programmes: James Quinn
Phone: 878 6658 / 873 6012 (Extension 1)
Drugs Treatment Centre Project
The Drug Treatment Court is a court-supervised treatment and education programme to help drug dependent offenders to address their addictions and offending behaviours. Those who can apply must be over 17 years of age and have pleaded guilty to a non-violent crime in the Dublin District Court.
- Adult Guidance Counselling for each client.
- A specialised educational programme in Parnell Adult Learning Centre in Parnell Square, specific to the Drug Treatment Court which includes QQI accreditation in literacy, numeracy, computers, health and fitness, art, food and nutrition, work preparation, and personal effectiveness.
- A skills Programme which includes nutrition and health, time management, health and fitness, communication skills, stress management, meditation, outdoor pursuits, peer support and addiction awareness.
- Advice placement and ongoing liaison/support to clients when referred to other education, training or work placements.
- Evaluation and review of progress of every client to the Drug Treatment Court.
For more information contact the Coordinator: Fiona Carolan (01)8746642
Workplace Education
The City of Dublin Education and Training Board is a leader in workplace education.
We offer a wide range of programmes to develop skills in the areas of literacy, digital literacy and English language.
We provide both public and private companies with programmes tailored to meet the needs of employees, These programmes can be accredited by QQI if that is what the employees need.
We work collaboratively with employers, employees, local government, unions and organisations in Dublin such as Dublin City Council, An Post, Irish Rail, Mondeleze, Boots and Arnotts.
We help organisations identify the training needs of their staff and to promote, design, deliver and evaluate workplace education courses.
Organisations may be eligible for government funding up to 100%.
Who do I contact:
City of Dublin ETB Workplace Education Co-ordinator:
Joan Devlin
Tel: (01) 862 3828
0877419805
[email protected]
Skills for Work: What our students say
“We entered into an agreement a few years ago for the provision of the Skills for Work programme for SIPTU members at SIPTU College.
The feedback from learners has been exceptional. Not only have they acquired much needed skills but the achievement of those skills has also made a major contribution to their self-confidence and has encouraged further study. Several have progressed to the Level 5 programmes at SIPTU College and elsewhere. I highly recommend this service.”
Dr Tish Gibbons, Head of SIPTU Training College
“Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists have found the Skills for Work Programme invaluable to assisting our employees and managers with better communication and IT skills. We initially started with a group of cleaning operatives working within a healthcare environment attending the communication skills through English course. This group of employees benefitted so much from the training that they completed further training, with a number of the staff getting their portfolio officially accredited at QQI Level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework. Following the success of this initial course, word soon spread about the benefits of the courses. We held further training for Cleaning Operatives in three other healthcare facilities in Dublin that Derrycourt provide contract cleaning. In each location the hospital personnel noticed a significant improvement in the communication from our operatives and were delighted with the outcome.
A group of our operational managers completed a Business English with IT Skills course and found the skills and knowledge they learned hugely beneficial and put the success of the course down to the expert tuition skills of their teacher. Other managers within the business commented without prompting the improvement in their level of verbal and written communication.
Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists would wholeheartedly recommend the Skills for Work Programme for any employer.” Anna Heather, Learning & Development Manager, Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists
I would like to thank you for the supports you arranged for me throughout the course I did in Pottery and Health Safety in the Workplace. Because of the support I got it was the first college exam I ever did. I would never have had the courage before and I received a distinction today for my work.
Christina, Adult Education Service Learner
