Teacher college mergers aim to maintain standard

Tighter controls on numbers training to become teachers are needed to ensure the high standard of applicants is not reduced as jobs become more scarce.

The recommendation comes from an international group of experts. They have suggested that the 19 publicly funded colleges — which offer more than 40 teaching courses — be merged into six specialist education centres, and this plan has been approved by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

The review commissioned for him by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) was focused on improving pre-service training for primary and second-level teachers rather than cutting costs.