Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2023
256. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education in view of the status of home economics as the second most difficult subject to recruit teachers for, the measures she will take to tackle the high cost to students on HDip courses for those training to be home economics teachers and bring them from current levels of €6,500 to a more affordable level, as has been done in other courses with teacher shortages. [6940/23]
View answerIn 2018, my Department established a Steering Group on Teacher Supply to facilitate multi-agency engagement and to lead on a coordinated programme of actions to support the supply of teachers. Arising from the work of this Group and its various substructures, the Teacher Supply Action Plan was published in November 2018.
The Action Plan called for the development of upskilling programmes in targeted subject areas for existing teachers, and following a request from my Department, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) issued a funding call to initial teacher education (ITE) providers for upskilling programmes in mathematics, physics and Spanish in late 2019. These were identified by the Steering Group as among the most challenging subjects in terms of teacher recruitment. Following the successful completion of the funding call, these programmes commenced in January 2021.
Upskilling programmes are provided over two years on a part-time basis. They are free of cost to participants. The first cohort of participants, approximately 170 teachers, completed these programmes in 2022 and some 300 teachers are due to graduate in 2023. My Department has agreed to extend funding in 2023 and to provide for additional capacity.
Funding for these programmes was put in place following a competitive call to all initial teacher education providers for proposals. It is intended to commence an upskilling programme in Irish in 2023/24 and consideration will be given to programmes in other subjects, which are yet to be determined. The allocation of funding for any future programmes will be dependent on a competitive process for potential providers.
