Student teacher training courses ‘dysfunctional’

RESEARCHERS have backed calls for major reforms of training for student teachers who spend just 17 weeks in classrooms before beginning their careers.

Dr Andy Burke of the Educational Research Centre at St Patrick’s College in Dublin claims in an academic journal article that most teacher preparation programmes are dysfunctional in some respects. He focuses on the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degrees at the two larger teacher training colleges, St Patrick’s College and Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, from which most of the annual 1,000 BEd students graduate.

A working group report to the Department of Education suggested in 2001 that the BEd degree be extended from three years to four, with the option of studying additional education subjects to the academic ones from which students on most courses choose their major and minors. The proposal was to add subjects such as psychology, sociology, early childhood education, literacy, maths, music or science education and special education to the current choices, which include Irish, English, French, history, geography, maths and religious studies.