Ms M?ir?n N? Ch?ileachair:

I will take the question on teacher training first. We are very aware that much of the initial teacher education courses are up for re-accreditation at the moment. The Teaching Council of Ireland will be looking at them. No more than some schools do some things better than others, some of the colleges prepare students very well for special needs education. That can be due to the interest of a particular person in the college. All students will have a minimum. Like my previous point if I have done something in college ten, 15 years or 20 years ago and now I am faced with a principal asking me to take an autism class this year, my first questions would be, “Will I be able for this? What do I need to learn? What do I need to do?”. It goes back to the point about time. I would say, “Gosh I would love to, but what training can I get? What can I do?”.

We need to be very clear about what is there for teachers. We can do a certain amount in initial teacher education but we cannot do it all. Continuing professional development does what it says on the tin; it is continual. It has to be there on a continual basis for teachers because we are all learning all of the time. We can certainly look to standardise across the colleges so that everybody has at least to do a minimum. There are more ways of looking at inclusive education, where it is across everything, rather than just having a module on it. It can be about how we deal with parents, how we teach language, how we teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and how we engage in outdoor learning. It could be physical education or anything. Inclusive education can be built into everything. I am sure the colleges are all screaming as I say this. From that point of view, the nature of what we are is never enough. We always want more and better and we always want it for our students.

I have not thought about July provision and qualified childcare practitioners enough to give an informed answer on that. It is something I will certainly think about. I will come back to the Deputy and email her on it.