To work towards achieving the Policy on Gaeltacht Education objective, the Department engaged in a procurement process for the design and delivery of two new Irish-medium teacher education programmes. These new teacher education programmes include a full-time 4-year Irish-medium Initial Teacher Education (ITE) B.Ed. programme (primary teaching) and a part-time 2-year Irish-medium M.Ed. postgraduate teacher education programme for practising primary and post-primary teachers and principals. Mary Immaculate College commenced the delivery of the Masters in Education (M.Ed.) on Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education in September 2018, while Marino Institute of Education will deliver the Irish-medium initial teacher education B.Ed. programme from September 2019.
On entry, candidates for each of these new Irish medium teacher education programmes are required to have reached an Irish-language proficiency standard of “independent user” Level B1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CEFRL) across all Irish-language competences (listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production, writing) following the completion of an externally administered Irish language proficiency test. This requirement is in addition to the existing entry requirement, which has been increased for all students entering primary ITE (see below). On exit from each of the two Irish-medium programmes, students must demonstrate that they have attained “proficient user” Level C1 (CEFRL) standard on exit from the Irish-medium B.Ed. and M.Ed. programmes, through the completion of an externally validated Irish-language proficiency test across all language competences (listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production, writing) in Irish.
The additional entry and exit requirements for these two new Irish-medium teacher education programmes have been put in place to ensure that candidates are sufficiently proficient in the Irish language to enable them to engage fully with the programmes and to ensure that the programmes are meeting the objectives of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022.
The potential for provision of Irish-medium programmes in other ITE providers will be considered in light of the experience of the initial Irish-medium programme and their impact on meeting the teacher supply needs of Irish-medium and Gaeltacht schools.
From September 2019, the minimum level of Leaving Certificate Irish required at entry to programmes of primary ITE has been increased from a H5 to a H4 (Higher Level). All students who wish to enter the Irish-medium primary programme in Mary Immaculate College will need to fulfil this requirement, as well as the ones above.
The Teaching Council is the statutory body charged with determining standards for the teaching profession and for accrediting programmes of initial teacher education. All initial teacher education programmes were re-conceptualised and extended, in accordance with the Teaching Council’s Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education and Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers (both 2011, the latter updated in 2017). The Teaching Council is currently undertaking a review of its Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers, which will consider, among other things, the impact of the re-conceptualised programmes for Initial Teacher Education on teaching and learning in Irish.
Running in tandem with the introduction of new curricula at primary and post-primary, targeted continuing professional development opportunities for serving teachers are provided by the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT). Furthermore, while they do not specifically address the teaching of other subjects through Irish, CPD in all other subjects and areas such as School Self-Evaluation and Leadership is delivered in Irish to Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools by the JCT and PDST, inclusive of the use of pedagogical approaches.
