Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2018
122. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to make entering the teaching profession easier for persons who are working full time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6190/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraInitial teacher education (ITE) for primary and post-primary teachers is facilitated through a range of concurrent (undergraduate) and consecutive (postgraduate) programmes.
The Teaching Council is the statutory body that sets and upholds the standards for entry to the teaching profession. One of the Council’s responsibilities is to review and accredit programmes of ITE provided by higher education institutions (HEIs). All ITE programmes that lead to registration with the Council must have professional accreditation from the Council.
Changes to ITE were proposed in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy Among Children and Young People 2011-2020 and incorporated into the Teaching Council’s Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education and Initial Teacher Education: Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers. These changes include the reconfiguration of the course content and increased duration for both primary and post-primary ITE programmes.
Undergraduate ITE programmes must now be a minimum of four years duration and postgraduate programmes must be a minimum of two years duration. The lengthened and reconfigured programmes include substantial periods of school placement as central to student teacher development, as well as foundational and professional studies, a Gaeltacht placement. School placement is a critical part of ITE and is designed to give the student teacher an opportunity to experience teaching and learning in a real environment.
The Deputy will appreciate that the requirements in the Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers, including the student placement requirements, do pose a challenge to the provision of a part-time ITE programme by HEIs. It is open to a HEI intending to introduce a part-time programme of ITE to apply to the Teaching Council for accreditation, but this would have to be arranged so as to meet the requirements of the Criteria and Guidelines.
