Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am the next speaker. One of my questions, and something I am quite interested in, relates to those people who have PhD qualifications and have considered going into second level teaching. One woman who has been in contact with me has a PhD in English literature. Her dream is to go on to third level and become a lecturer, but obviously it can be quite challenging to get a job in that sector. She considered teaching in a secondary school setting. She had some debt as a result of doing the PhD and owed significant moneys. She did not feel it was within her capacity to take another two years to study to become a secondary school teacher. It is my understanding that this is something that comes up. It is an interesting point. Is anything being looked at with regard to people like that who have been teaching in an educational setting and who are very well trained in the particular subject matter they have studied, be it mathematics or physics? Has some kind of conversion course, which is shorter, been looked at? Is that something that is done internationally that we could learn from?