Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2023
122. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education her views on whether the two-year length of the Professional Master's in Education is a prohibiting factor for many wishing to enter the profession; and if she is considering shortening its length and lessening its cost. [5139/23]
View answerChanges to the duration and content of all initial teacher education (ITE) programmes were made in response to recommendations in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among children and Young People 2011-2020 and were incorporated into the Teaching Council’s Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education and Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers. The changes made to post graduate ITE programmes included the reconfiguration of their content and an increase in their duration to two years.
The lengthened and reconfigured programmes include substantial periods of school placement as central to student teacher development.
Accreditation of ITE programmes and the standards required to be registered as a teacher in Ireland are the responsibility of the Teaching Council. Revised standards for ITE were set out by the Teaching Council in Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education, published in 2020. These include a number of mandatory areas including seven core elements -
Inclusive Education
Global Citizenship Education
Professional Relationships and Working with Parents
Professional Identity and Agency
Creativity and Reflective Practice
Literacy and Numeracy
Digital Skills
Céim reaffirms that post-graduate ITE programmes shall be a minimum of two years’ duration.
These reforms are focused on improving the quality of teaching in our schools, which is central to the educational outcomes of our children. The changes made to the content and duration of the ITE programmes for primary and post primary teaching are in line with the aims of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy and aim to ensure that newly qualified teachers are better equipped for the needs of modern day classrooms.
It is acknowledged that there are challenges around the availability of teachers at present. However, many programmes of initial teacher education remain oversubscribed and there are no plans to reduce the current duration of the postgraduate ITE programmes to one year.
The principal support provided by the Government in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the terms of the Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine.
To satisfy the terms and conditions of the Student Grant Scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course, having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course. Therefore post graduate PME students may be eligible for financial assistance through the scheme.
The objective of this policy is to assist as many students as possible to obtain one qualification at each level of study, given that the scheme operates in the context of limited public funding and competing educational priorities.
Apart from the Student Grant Scheme, students in third-level institutions experiencing exceptional financial difficulty can apply for support under the Student Assistance Fund. This Fund assists students, in a sensitive and compassionate manner, who might otherwise be unable to continue their third level studies due to their financial circumstances. Information on the fund is available through the Access Officer in the third level institution attended. This fund is administered on a confidential, discretionary basis.
