I thank the Deputy for his question. I published an initial teacher education policy statement in 2023, presenting a vision for policy and provision across the sector. It aims to ensure student teachers at primary and post-primary level have the skills to support all of our children and young people as learners in the years ahead. One of the policy's guiding principles is the continuation of the vision that initial teacher education will be led by a small number of university-led centres of teacher education excellence and that each of these will have a critical mass to provide for good teaching, research and international co-operation, with structures to ensure meaningful collaboration across educational sectors.
This reaffirms the position first set out in the 2012 report of the international review panel on the structure of initial teacher education in Ireland. At that time, there were 19 publicly funded higher education institutions providing programmes for primary and post-primary teachers. There were also a number of private providers. However, this growth was not co-ordinated and had evolved in a piecemeal manner, resulting in a variety of models of provision by a range of providers. The review panel concluded that this provision did not concur with high-performing international practice. A review of progress, carried out by Professor Pasi Sahlberg in 2019, found considerable progress towards achieving this objective.
Under section 38 of the Teaching Council Act, all initial teacher education programmes must be accredited by the Teaching Council for registration purposes. The policy statement includes a phased implementation plan that sets out practical ways to enhance initial teacher education in the years ahead. My Department continues to work closely with the Department of further and higher education as well as with the Teaching Council in this regard. Within this context, the policy statement recognises the contributions technological universities can make to providing subject expertise for initial teacher education.
A number of technological universities are already involved and contributing to initial teacher education in a range of areas, while the linkage to a centre in line with policy remains key. At present, a bachelor of education in technology, engineering and graphics (post-primary) is being delivered through a partnership of Dublin City University and Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone.