Thomas Byrne
Question:174. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the efforts being made to encourage Travellers to become teachers. [15078/19]
View answerTuesday, 2 April 2019
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The National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019 (NAP) was launched in December 2015, and aims to ensure that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population. Irish Travellers are identified as a target group within the Plan.
To support the implementation of the National Access Plan, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) established the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) fund in 2016. Through PATH a total investment of €16.2 million is available over the three years commencing 2017 including initiatives to support greater levels of access and participation by the target groups in higher education, including Irish Travellers.
€2.7 million was allocated for new initiatives to widen access to initial teacher education under Strand 1 of the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). This programme will result in more than 120 new teachers coming through the system from disadvantaged groups which traditionally have been under-represented in teaching, including those from the Travelling community.
The Minister’s objective is to increase the number of students from the Travelling Community along with underrepresented groups entering initial teacher education.