Dr. Seán Rowland:

I will address the last question first. "No" is the answer. There are more than enough schools that are interested in taking student teachers for every college. Traditionally, it is fair to say that some schools would claim they would never take a student from college X or would only take students from another college. That is fine. That is the way life is in most countries. However, there is ample opportunity and the teachers and principals are very engaged. They are extremely supportive. There are many new schools in suburban areas that have never had student teachers and they are eager to participate as well. We tell our student teachers that they must be prepared to travel for teaching practice, because we cannot always give them the school around the corner from their house. That said, one finds that many students tell us that they have already asked the principal of the school down the road. It is a community event; it is a piece of everything. We tend to follow the students' lead on where they want to do the practice. However, there is a variety of experiences that they must have in different teaching practices, so they cannot get the cosy third class for the entire period. Does that answer the Deputy's question?