Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. It is nice to meet Dr. Seán Rowland again. I know a little about what the college does as I did supervised teacher practice for a time for Hibernia College. Will the witnesses give a breakdown of the percentage of face-to-face encounters for students versus the percentage of the course that would be totally online? Face-to-face encounters would include weekend tutorials, as well as the teaching practice. I congratulate the college. It appears to be a global provider of education now. It is good that it started here at home. The teachers bring an extra experience to the classroom, in terms of e-learning and digital learning awareness, which does not exist in other colleges. I have met the college's students and they are the same as students who go to the regular colleges, having worked in one such college previously.

I will offer some criticisms to the witnesses to give them an opportunity to respond to them. Like Deputy McConalogue and Deputy O'Brien, I am frequently told that the Government should cap the numbers going into teacher training colleges, especially Hibernia College, because there is no hope of that number of teachers getting posts when they graduate. I am sure the witnesses will respond to that.

The witness said the college has gone into the second level sector. What is the position with that? Will the college use the same model? I feel bad for second level teachers. It sometimes takes them up to ten years to get a permanent position in this country. What will the college bring to that level that will be helpful, given the situation as it is? With regard to qualifications, Dr. Nicholas Breakwell said that academic accreditation is critical. Of course it is. How does the qualification rank vis-à-vis the traditional qualification from teacher training colleges? I realise it is a BEd postgraduate. Has any independent study been carried out in which the Hibernia College qualification has been compared with, for example, the qualification from Mary Immaculate College, St. Patrick's College or Marino College? If not, would the college be open to that in terms of, perhaps, even contributing to or sponsoring such an independent study?

To return to the schools' experience, what type of supports does the college give to the schools that take its teachers? I used to receive criticism in that regard. The schools felt that they had to do a good deal of the training of the teacher because the teacher did not have as much face-to-face experience. When the teacher came to the classroom, it was left up to the school. The chances are that the college has improved that aspect hugely, but I am anxious to know a little more about it. Has the college surveyed the students regarding their experience of distance learning and what was their satisfaction with it? Would they like a little more face-to-face time and how is the college working on that?

Are the college's students subject to the same external qualification examination as the students of Mary Immaculate College, St. Patrick's College and Marino College would be? Hibernia College has now expanded to the UK. How did the college get started there in terms of linking in with the government and so forth?