Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life, The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020, which I launched in July of this year aims to ensure that teachers and schools maintain a strong focus on literacy and numeracy skills, within a broad and balanced curriculum. It sets out a wide-ranging programme of reforms in initial teacher education courses, in professional development for teachers and school principals, and in the content of the curriculum at primary and post-primary levels in order to achieve these vital skills. To implement the changes, close consultation is taking place between my Department, the Teaching Council and the Colleges of Education. The Teaching Council's Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education, published in 2011, also seeks significant changes in initial teacher education programmes. The main changes include:
improvements to initial teacher education courses including the setting of new higher entry requirements for teacher education courses and the reconfiguring of the content to ensure the development of teachers' skills in literacy and numeracy teaching.
the extension of the Bachelor of Education programme to four years and the postgraduate diploma teaching qualification (for primary and post-primary teachers) to two years.
the lengthened and reconfigured Bachelor of Education will include extended school placement periods and an increased emphasis on the key strategic priorities of literacy and numeracy, ICT and inclusion.
Colleges which currently devote a proportion of programme time to Arts subjects (known as academic electives) will be required to redesign programmes to ensure overall relevance to teacher education Implementation of planned changes is a priority and will take account of the availability of resources.
