Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 12 Feb 2004

Vol. 175 No. 10

Teacher Training Colleges.

Mr. Browne

In the 1980s, too many teachers were being trained in colleges when there were not enough jobs and the number of places in teacher training colleges was cut back. At this time, Carysfort college was also closed — possibly wrongly with the benefit of hindsight. In the 1990s, far too few teachers were being trained. The Department of Education and Science has an unusual way of working. Considering it gets effectively four years' advance notice of children beginning school, it is incredible how it can be so far off in its figures. I am not sure of the exact figure, but I suspect in the region of 2,000 teachers in primary schools are untrained, which is an unsatisfactory situation.

This is why I was baffled when I recently discovered that the postgraduate places on courses in St. Patrick's College have been cut back from 180 to 100, even though the Minister has admitted there is a shortage of teachers and despite the fact that the course in question is very successful. It allowed people who had a degree in another area the option of doing a postgraduate course over 18 months and becoming a teacher in that manner, saving them the hassle of having to go to Wales to do a ten month course and then coming home to do the Irish exam.

I understand that the arrival of the Hibernian on-line course is a factor in this. However, when that course was mentioned, it was spoken about as a way of supplementing and adding to teacher numbers but was never suggested as an excuse to cut back the existing postgraduate programme. I urge the Minister to reverse the decision and allow St. Patrick's and the other affected colleges to restore the numbers and ensure that children have a fully-trained teacher in the next 18 months, otherwise we are failing the teachers and the children. It is a retrograde step which should be reversed immediately.

The college itself is at a severe financial disadvantage as a result of these cuts. A total of 900 candidates went forward for interview in St. Patrick's recently, and just 200 places were allocated by the different colleges of education. There is a huge demand from people who want to do the postgraduate course and the cuts make no sense.

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform admitted that it cost approximately €84,000 a year to keep a prisoner in jail. I would link the two together. If children get a good foundation at primary school level, their chances of becoming involved in crime and other such areas will be reduced. Money spent on education is money well spent and I am sure the Minister will agree with me in that regard. We should focus our thinking on the long term and not the short term. It is disgraceful that the Department of Education and Science is abusing the arrival of the new on-line primary teacher training course delivered by Hibernia College to make cutbacks in the Department's provision for the postgraduate programme. I look forward to the Minister's response.

Dr. McDaid

I thank Senator Fergal Browne for raising this issue and I agree with certain parts of his contribution. I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Education and Science, who asked that I relay his response to the Senator.

The primary sector has experienced a shortage of trained teachers in recent years mainly as a result of the substantial number of teaching posts which this and the previous Government have created to improve the pupil-teacher ratio, cater for pupils in disadvantaged areas and provide resources for children with special needs. The difficulties being experienced are aggravated by the number of teachers availing of career breaks and job-sharing schemes. It is accepted that there are difficulties.

The Department of Education and Science has introduced a range of measures to address the current shortage of qualified teachers and is also examining further options for addressing the teacher supply issue in connection with relevant interests. The additional measures introduced to address the teacher shortage include doublingthe number of students admitted annually to the B.Ed. programme in the colleges of education; providing postgraduate courses each year; recognising B.Ed. graduates of St. Mary's College, Belfast, who have studied Irish to honours level as an academic subject as part of their teaching qualifications, as fully qualified; recognising Montessori trained teachers, who have successfully completed the full-time course of three years duration at St. Nicholas, Dún Laoghaire, which is recognised by HETAC, or the Montessori qualification which is awarded on completion of the three year course in the AMI college, as being fully qualified substitute teachers to teach in certain categories of special schools, special classes and as resource teachers in primary schools; recognising fully qualified teachers who trained outside the State to teach in certain categories of school and classes without the necessity to hold the Irish language qualification; and the Minister's recent decision to recognise graduates of a new primary teacher training course, accredited by HETAC and being delivered by Hibernia College — to which the Senator referred — for the purposes of primary teaching.

The graduate diploma course is a full-time course run to enable third level graduates to train as primary school teachers. The course was introduced as a response to a shortage in the supply of primary school teachers. It was first provided in the 1995-6 academic year in four of the colleges of education and has been repeated on a number of occasions since then. The initial intake for the course was 180 students and the number of graduates of the course has varied according to demand from 180 in 1995-96, 280 in 1998-9 and 460 in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years.

There are currently some 3,500 students enrolled and pursuing various stages of primary teacher training programmes in the colleges of education. Based on the significant increase in the output of qualified teachers coming from the colleges of education and having considered the range of additional measures in place to address the supply of qualified teachers, the Department has requested the colleges of education to provide another postgraduate course to commence early in 2004 and to revert to 280 places as had previously been the case. The position with regard to future years will be considered in the context of teacher supply and available resources.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the existing shortage of qualified teachers will be eliminated within the next two to three years and in this context the Department will continue to consider new initiatives and keep existing initiatives under review.