Dr. Teresa O'Doherty:

The MIE welcomes and appreciates the opportunity to engage with the committee. An associated college of Trinity College Dublin and established more than 100 years ago, MIE offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in education, and in teacher education in particular. The college has 1,100 students, half of whom are registered on initial teacher education programmes at undergraduate or postgraduate level. We would like to bring our work on initial teacher education to the attention of the committee today and especially our access to initial teacher education programmes for students from the Traveller community.

We initiated a three-year project in May 2018, called Tobar, as part of the programme for access to higher education run by the Higher Education Authority, HEA. The overall objective of the project is to enroll four Travellers on initial teacher education programmes and, to date, two Traveller students have progressed via Tobar to initial teacher education programmes. One is now enrolled on a professional masters of education in primary teaching at MIE and the other is enrolled at Maynooth University on a professional masters of education in post-primary teaching. It will be noted that the students mentioned are studying at postgraduate level and have completed a leaving certificate and an undergraduate degree programme.

From its outset, Tobar established a two-strand approach for its intervention. Strand 1 focuses on Traveller students aged 15 to 18 years old who aspire to become teachers.

Strand 2 focuses on Travellers who may want to enrol on the B.Ed. programme through the mature entry route or those who already have undergraduate degrees but wish to enrol on professional masters programmes.

In the current year of 2019-20, our project is putting additional focus on Strand 1 and on the students at second level who may aspire to become teachers. The project has already established positive relationships with schools, community groups and, in many cases, individual families. At present nine students, ranging from the junior cycle to the leaving certificate, are registered with the Tobar project. In each case, the Tobar project officer works in collaboration with school staff to determine each student's interest, disposition and academic ability. Suitable supports and interventions are then scheduled depending on the individual needs of students.

Within Strand 1 we deliver in-school workshops for students on becoming a primary teacher. We meet families and arrange for the students to visit the Marino Institute of Education. To date, we have worked on about 30 visits and 30 workshops in schools. In addition, our project officer has engaged in sustained collaboration with Traveller groups and, for example, has been invited to join the board of Exchange House.

Although the Tobar project is only in its second year of activity, we have learned a good deal about the concerns, fears and difficulties faced by Traveller students in schools. We have also learned about the frustration of Traveller graduates in terms of their careers post third-level study. It is telling that the first reaction from Traveller students in the workshops is incredulity at the suggestion that they could, if they so wished, become teachers. The lack of ambition within the students to become a teacher or pursue any professional career reflects society's failure and that of the education system to actively promote careers to Traveller students.

The Traveller students we have worked with often show a lack of belief in themselves. This, combined with a lack of belief in the education system and higher education, means that students who can succeed in pursuing professional careers often drop out or drop back in subjects. I mean they move from honours level to ordinary level or foundation level in their subjects for reasons that are not aligned with their academic ability. Without any intervention such changes have long-term consequences for the students in terms of accessing higher education.

Initial teacher education or ITE programmes have minimum entry requirements. It is vitally important that a student who aspires to a teaching career is aware of the necessity to achieve the minimum entry requirements and maintain enough higher level subjects to achieve points to access an ITE programme through the Central Applications Office, CAO. In such a case, it is equally important for the student's family and teachers to be aware of their student's aspiration and provide what support they can.

It is important to emphasise that our engagement with schools through Tobar has been extremely positive. The level of facilitation that has been afforded to Tobar by school staff has been, and will be, integral to the successful achievement of the project's aims. The institute's partners, within the Leinster Pillar - Cluster 1, have also been generous with their time and expertise. We acknowledge the Higher Education Authority, HEA, as the funder of Tobar and appreciate its ongoing support.

Within the institute, Tobar is operated by a small team and I thank everyone involved. The HEA funds half of the cost of one project officer and the institute co-funds the remaining half. We also have access to a very small stream of philanthropic funding to support Traveller students who enter our programmes. However, if the institute is to continue to bring Travellers through the Tobar programme additional funding will need to be sourced not just for operational aspects but, more important, to support students while on their ITE programmes. I wish to emphasise that the initial teacher education programme is very expensive. The institute is acutely conscious that it is a significant risk for any third-level institution to raise aspirations and subsequent expectations for members of the Traveller community without having the resources to support access, retention and progression through the ITE programmes. Therefore, as part of our recommendations in our written submission, we strongly suggest consideration be given to establishing a centralised funding stream to support Travellers to pursue initial teacher education programmes.