Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 May 2012
107 Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Education and Skills the action that has been taken on the recommendation of the National Competitiveness Council in the Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2011 report that where feasible participation in training and profession development for teachers should occur outside of term time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25810/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department actively seeks ways to minimise any disruption to class time. In 2011, Circulars 8 and 25 set out new arrangements for schools, whereby an additional hour per teacher per week is available in order to provide for a range of essential activities to take place without reducing class contact/tuition time. School management may designate the use of the additional time to deal with items such as school planning, continuous professional development (CPD), induction and policy development. In keeping with this development, the professional development support services and education centres also provide much of their training activities through out-of-school hours, modular and online delivery.
While every effort is made to reduce the impact on teaching time, this is not always possible due to the logistics and numbers of teachers involved in, for example, the national roll out of CPD programmes associated with new or revised curricula, or the implementation of national strategies such as the literacy and numeracy strategy. CPD is offered during school time only when it is considered necessary to do so. Other than CPD provided by the Department, it is worth noting that many teachers participate in a wide range of CPD and further education on a voluntary and independent basis.
