Sorca Clarke
Question:418. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Education the total number of places in each master's degree in primary teaching per public university in Ireland. [11956/24]
View answerWednesday, 20 March 2024
Questions (418)
Written answers
There are two standard routes recognised by the Teaching Council to become a primary teacher:
• A four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programme.
• A two-year post-graduate Professional Master of Education (PME) programme.
The undergraduate/B. Ed. model offers students who are beginning their tertiary education, and wish to pursue a career in teaching, an opportunity to acquire a teaching qualification. In the postgraduate/PME model, a teacher first obtains a qualification in one or more subjects (through an undergraduate degree), and then studies for a further period to gain the professional qualification in teaching.
There are four State-funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary initial teacher education (ITE). Each of these offers both a full time primary ITE undergraduate/B.Ed. and postgraduate/PME programme:
• DCU Institute of Education.
• Marino Institute of Education.
• Maynooth University (Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education)
• Mary Immaculate College
There is one private provider, Hibernia College, which provides postgraduate (PME) programmes only (primary and post-primary).
The number of students admitted to primary concurrent and consecutive programmes in State-funded HEIs is determined my Department, having regard to teacher supply and demand issues, and available resources.
Following engagement with the 4 State-funded HEIs providing primary initial teacher education, I also approved 610 additional places, with 320 of these approved for 2023, and the remaining 290 in 2024.
The new places are as follows:
• 90 additional places on the Bachelor of Education programme in 2023 and 2024, making a total of 1,090 each year.
• 30 additional places on the Bachelor of Education through the Medium of Irish in 2023, making a total of 60 in 2023.
• 200 additional places on the Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) programme in 2023 and 2024, making a total of 400 each year.
The number of approved places for the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme across the four State-funded HEIs for entry in this current academic year is as follows:
|
Approved places on Professional Master of Education (PME) programme State-funded HEIs |
2023/2024 |
|
Dublin City University |
120 |
|
Mary Immaculate College, Limerick |
120 |
|
Marino Institute of Education |
100 |
|
Maynooth University |
60 |
In terms of overall enrolments on the ITE programmes, 2022/23 is the most recent year for which confirmed data is available. In that year there were some 4,700 students enrolled in primary across the State-funded sector.