Teacher training set for major overhaul

A MAJOR overhaul of teacher training which could lead to significant changes in course content and possibly longer degree programmes is to begin shortly.

Department of Education officials have been in contact with interested parties and a spokesperson confirmed last night that formal contact with the relevant parties will be made in the coming weeks. She said the process arises from separate reports on primary and second-level teacher education, and last year’s OECD report on attracting and retaining effective teachers.

But Education Minister Mary Hanafin has already given clear indications of changes she may seek, particularly in relation to primary teaching degrees. In a speech on teacher education last May, she questioned the need for academic subjects as core requirements for primary school teachers.

But she also indicated her opposition to an extension to the degree programme from three years to four, as recommended to her department in the 2002 report of a working group chaired by Thomas Kellaghan of the Educational Research Centre, which also suggested extending 18-month postgraduate diplomas to two years.

Around 1,500 primary teachers graduate each year, a number which has risen significantly in the last decade with the creation of more postgraduate places.

Ms Hanafin told the Dáil last week that more time should be spent preparing student teachers to deal with disadvantage, special needs, behavioural and multicultural issues and parental demands.

“Student teachers, for example, are spending a considerable amount of time doing degree programme subjects, for instance French, which may not need to take up so much time,” she said.

The review is likely to raise considerable debate in primary teaching colleges which, along with teacher unions, are in favour of a four-year degree.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary John Carr said: “The main problem with teacher education at primary level in Ireland is not academic study but that too much is expected within three years. Academic study in teacher education provides knowledge and skills that are necessary for the system.”

The 2002 report of a group chaired by Waterford Institute of Technology director Kieran Byrne into second-level teacher training is also being considered.

Ms Hanafin wants places on higher diploma courses for second-level teaching to be reserved for graduates of science and other subject areas in which there are teacher shortages.