Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. The initial teacher education policy statement which the Minister launched last month presented a vision for policy and provision across the sector which can ensure student teachers at primary and post-primary level have the skills to support all our children and young people as learners in the years ahead.

The policy statement recognised the progress that had been made through the Teaching Council's accreditation of programmes, the structural reform that has been embedded in the system over the past decade and the actions to meet the challenges of teacher supply and Covid-19.

One of the policy's guiding principles is the continuation of the vision that initial teacher education will be led by a small number of university-led centres of teacher education excellence and that each of these will have a critical mass to provide for good teaching, research and international co-operation, with structures to ensure meaningful collaboration across educational sectors. This reaffirms the position that was first set out in the 2012 report of the international review panel on the structure of initial teacher education in Ireland. At that time, there were 19 publicly-funded higher education institutions providing programmes for primary and post-primary teachers. There were also private providers. However, this growth was not co-ordinated and had evolved in a piecemeal manner, resulting in a variety of models of provision by a range of providers. The review panel concluded that this provision did not concur with high-performing international practice. A review of progress was carried out by Professor Pasi Sahlberg in 2019. The review found considerable progress towards achieving this objective.

The policy statement includes a phased implementation plan that sets out practical ways to progress this work in the years ahead. The Department of Education will work closely with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, as well as with the Teaching Council, in this regard. Within this policy context, the policy statement recognises the contributions that technological universities, TUs, can make to providing subject expertise for initial teacher education. The Deputy may be aware that a number of TUs are already involved and contributing to initial teacher education in diverse areas, while the linkage to a centre in line with policy remains key.

As autonomous bodies, it falls to individual higher education institutions to consider the scope of their further provision in line with their missions or strategies. The Department of Education favours new programmes being introduced in areas where there is an identified national need. In this regard, it would be expected that there would be a liaison with the Department by higher education institutions, the Teaching Council and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science when considering new programme proposals. It is also expected that due regard be given to the available data on teacher supply needs. The policy statement includes a number of actions in this vein. I hope the Deputy can see that there are opportunities for the TU sector to contribute to further initial teacher education.

I have additional information that might address some of the Deputy's questions. Officials from the Department have met representatives from the South East Technological University, SETU, to discuss the potential for the latter's involvement in initial teacher education provision in collaboration with centres of initial teacher education. Following the recent publication of the initial teacher education policy, statement correspondence has been received from the SETU and a reply is being drafted.

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