Dáil debates
Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Teacher Training
9:10 am
Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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The Department of Education produced an additional teacher education policy document which suggests that teacher provision will be led by a small number of university centres of teacher education. It appears to discount any opportunity for the new technological universities, only recently established, to engage formally with previous plans to develop a teacher training capability.
I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State personally, but it is entirely fitting that this question has been taken up by the Minister of State for disabilities, given the Government's approach to incapacitating our technological universities before they are fully established. I am referring to the recent Department of Education initial teacher education, ITE, policy statement, released by the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, on 28 March, which sets out a vision for the future of teacher education policy until 2030.
Buried on page eight is gobbledygook worthy of any Sir Humphrey. It is a declaration that no technological university will ever deliver primary education while the policy is in place. It states, "It is expected that ITE provision will be led by a small number of university-led centres of excellence, as envisaged by the Sahlberg II report." Page 84 sticks the sword in further, stating, "Technological Universities will be in a position to provide subject expertise to ITE but any plans for entirely new IT provision must be led by centre of excellence". There we have it in black and white. Technological universities are not allowed to compete for the additional higher education capacity that will be provided by the State in the coming years. In other words, get stuffed.
The university cities of Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Cork and Sligo, which includes the University of Galway, will all be looked after. Technological universities will never have teacher training. This is an artificial limit, as per Dr. Richard Thorn. The technological universities are being incapacitated by this crummy and shoddy piece of work.
Waterford was promised that the technological university would be good enough and not be an impediment to the development of a fully resourced university with a full university spectrum of courses. Ministers and previous Governments said it would be a game changer. The initial teacher education policy statement gives the clearest signal yet that the current game has not changed.
The HEA reports that 10,720 learners are studying education. This has grown by 39% in the past five years. There is, however, no growth in the south-east and given the current policy the Government is ensuring there will never be teacher training in Waterford. In fact, there never can be teacher training in Waterford.
Some 1,790 students from the south-east, comprising 16% of all scholars of education, will continue to leave our region and look for opportunities elsewhere which are not given to them in their own region. They will line the pockets of universities in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and empty homes across the south-east. This policy document is a disgrace. Technological universities will be hobbled before they are even fully established. The question is whether that was the policy designed from the outset.
Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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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.
9:20 am
Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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The Minister of State will know - the Government certainly knows - that Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT, which was the fulcrum of the new SETU, had been providing teacher training in the form of further education, which was recognised by the Teaching Council. The academics in WIT had long recognised the regional need for teacher education, particularly at secondary level, in the south east. They conducted a review of this need across the region and have the data to support the argument.
It was a fundamental understanding of the development of TUs that they would have a regional remit and that the provision of teacher education would be a part of that. Sadly, the latest departmental report underscores where influence resides and policy is written, notwithstanding the Minister of State's final comments. The idea that the ambitions of aspiring teacher students can only be realised in one of the national universities is risible and perverse, especially given the research and academic achievements of the Waterford campus of SETU over the past decade. It gives me no pleasure to say it, but it appears to be business as usual in terms of denigrating the ambitions of the south east, particularly of Waterford academics and education. I am not sure that many families in Waterford or the wider south east will thank the Government for the resumption of this discriminatory behaviour. We were promised a game-changing university but, despite what the Minister of State said, I do not see anything to counter my belief. No thanks will be forthcoming for the removal of opportunity from our region, and certainly none for those who cheered a new dawn of academic and faculty advancement in the south east, because it is not being seen. People have been cheering a new dawn. Unfortunately, this latest policy is a setting sun on the ambitions of teacher training in Waterford and the wider south east.
Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister understands the Deputy's desire to ensure that the SETU can achieve its full potential and contribute to the economic and social development of the south east. He will see that there are opportunities for the TU sector to contribute to initial teacher education, as outlined. The Minister hopes that he will understand that her Department's policy consideration is that it is important to ensure our student teachers have excellent preparation that has the advantage of a critical mass in high-quality research and teaching. This policy reflects the findings of international experts on how the structures of initial teacher education in Ireland can best ensure high-quality education. The objective in publishing the policy statement is to improve the overall quality of initial teacher education. This will involve practical measures that will improve available evidence and enhance the already strong collaboration within the sector. It requires collaboration within the sector and also collaboration between Departments and State bodies, such as the Teaching Council. It will ensure that our newly qualified teachers have the necessary tools to support them in their aim of inspiring, enlightening and preparing pupils and students to succeed in life.
Following the recent publication of the initial teacher education policy, statement correspondence has been received from the SETU and a reply is being drafted. Contrary to the Deputy's comments, I cannot look into the crystal ball to see beyond what the Minister has told me. There is no outcome. The draft reply is being produced.