Dr. Anne Looney:

I thank the Acting Chairman and the members of the committee for the opportunity to meet them today and to develop some of the points we made in the submission we were invited to make earlier this month. Dublin City University's institute of education is Ireland's newest and only university faculty of education. It is in its second year of operation. It was created through the incorporation of four separate institutions, all involved in teacher education, namely, St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, the Church of Ireland College of Education in Rathmines, the Mater Dei Institute of Education and the DCU School of Education Studies. We now have more than 4,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students of education on the St. Patrick's Campus of DCU, along with almost 140 academic staff and some world class researchers. We cover all phases of education, from early years through to adult and community education. I should add that we have not experienced the fall-off in applications or demand that other people have reported here. The number of applicants to come into teacher education continues to exceed the number of places we have in our programmes. That includes all our programmes, whether it is English, history, science or mathematics.

The review of initial teacher education carried out in 2012 in Ireland said that we should prepare our teachers in university settings and move away from smaller colleges of education, so that those preparing to be teachers can work with staff who are also researching in their specialist field. Our students have opportunities to work with scientists, writers, mathematicians, musicians, social and business innovators and the wide range of expertise found in contemporary higher education institutions. That is a really important policy direction in the context of the supply issues we now face.

Our education system has committed itself to a highly qualified teaching profession and to high-quality teacher education. For some, the path to teaching can be six years long. It is a long time. It is about the same qualification period as for doctors. We have a shortage of doctors in the health sector and despite the many solutions proposed, no one has suggested that we should just get doctors trained faster. Teaching, like medicine, is a complex job, and it is harder than it used to be. We do not claim that our graduates are ready for every situation that a classroom will present to them, but we aim to provide our teachers with enough technical and professional knowledge and understanding to form a basis for further learning and sound judgment. It is salutary to remember that many of those who graduate as teachers in 2018 will still be teaching in 2050. We have to ensure that they are as ready to learn as they are ready to teach.