I raise this issue to urge the Minister to immediately withdraw the quotas imposed on Higher Diploma in Education places in our universities. It is totally unacceptable that the Minister should arbitrarily decide on the future career options of thousands of students who wish to develop a teaching career. Many of the students will have started their courses in university in the expectation of being allowed to progress to the H.Dip. programme. It was a natural and traditional path to follow, one pursued for generations by students.
These students were not given any notice in their first year in college that there would be such a quota.
The quota arrangement is very unfair. Information received by me from a number of universities indicates that this year there were 1,058 applications to UCD with only 170 places available; there were 800 applications to UCC with only 165 places available and letters to this effect were sent out late last week to the students involved. In Maynooth there were 860 applications for 150 places.
Those figures illustrate the huge number of students who will be bitterly disappointed again this year. Some students who were debarred by the quota system last year have been unlucky again this year. A number of school principals have informed me that the quota system operates without reference to the subject needs of our schools. This has already been well articulated by the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland.
There is a shortage of teachers for certain subjects such as Irish, woodwork, chemistry, physics and home economics and no cognisance has been taken of this fact. A few years from now there will be a grave shortage of qualified teachers in these subjects unless remedial action is taken urgently.
We are also concerned about the selection procedures to be adopted in deciding which students should be allowed to progress to the diploma programme. Universities adopt different criteria to decide which students should be allowed go forward, ranging from academic qualifications to the size of a curriculum vitae, etc. This will raise serious questions in the minds of students, parents and educationalists generally.
I urge the Minister to be more caring, compassionate and equitable in the treatment of these students.