Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 21 Apr 1998

Vol. 489 No. 6

Written Answers. - Teaching Qualifications.

Brendan Howlin

Question:

784 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Education and Science the consideration, if any, he will give to the recruitment as primary teachers of graduates of Montessori training colleges whose qualifications have been validated by the NCEA in view of the shortage of qualified teachers to meet current and future requirements at primary level; the alternative measures, if any, he proposes to take to deal with this teacher shortage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9449/98]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

Irish primary school teachers are class teachers as distinct from individual subject teachers and must, therefore, be qualified to teach all aspects of the curriculum. For this reason, all teachers seeking recognition must achieve a standard of competence in the Irish language. This competence can be achieved by undergoing and passing the Irish qualifications exam "An Scrúdú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge", both written and oral, or its equivalent.

Teachers with the Montessori qualification which is awarded on completion of the three year full-time course in the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) College, Mount St. Mary's, Milltown, Dublin 14, are, however, recognised by my Department as qualified to teach in special schools for the mentally handicapped, the emotionally disturbed, and the hearing impaired.

In addition, the recent National Forum on Early Childhood Education brought together service providers and experts in the field for the purpose of advising me on a strategy for the future development of early childhood education services. My objective in holding the national forum was to allow all groups with an interest in the area of early childhood education to put forward their views as to how best to co-ordinate and support the future development of services in this area. Following the conclusion of the national forum, an independent report of its proceedings and conclusions is being prepared by the independent secretariat and will be published under the authority of the secretary general to the forum. This report will be an important document in its own right and will be an important input also into a White Paper on early childhood education, work on which will commence following the forum.

Montessori education was one of the issues which was addressed by the forum. It would not be appropriate for me to pre-empt the outcome of the forum by commenting at this stage on possible future roles for Montessori teachers. Concerning the current supply of trained primary teachers, in June of this year, more than 600 newly qualified primary teachers will graduate. Over the following two years, a further 1,100 newly trained teachers are due to graduate resulting in more than 1,700 newly trained teachers becoming available in the period from June 1998 to June 2000.

Additionally, my Department is currently pursuing with the authorities in the colleges of education the issue of their commencing shortly a further post-graduate training course which should result in a further increase in the output of newly trained teachers in 2000. My recent decision to recognise fully qualified teachers who trained outside the State to teach in certain categories of schools and classes without the necessity to hold an Irish language qualification will contribute to an improvement in the supply of trained primary teachers.

Finally, the supply panel scheme was extended earlier this year by the provision of a further 30 teachers. The scheme now operates in 17 locations throughout the country providing a pool of fully trained teachers to provide short-term substitute cover in a large number of schools. This scheme has already proved to be very successful in assisting boards of management to acquire the services of qualified substitute teachers.