Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Mary Moran for raising the matter this morning. I respond on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. I will first set out for the House the role of the Teaching Council in programmes of initial teacher education, or ITE. The council has statutory responsibility for the review and accreditation of ITE programmes and all programmes that lead to registration must have professional accreditation from it. Changes to initial teacher education were proposed in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011 to 2020 and the Teaching Council published criteria and guidelines for providers of ITE programmes in order to ensure that their programmes meet the council's accreditation requirements. Improvements to ITE courses include the reconfiguration of their content and an increase in their duration. Programmes now include substantial periods of school placement as central to student teacher development. In this regard, the Teaching Council has determined that 25% of student time over the four years of undergraduate programmes and 40% of student time over the two years of postgraduate programmes should be allocated to school placement.

The Teaching Council has prepared school placement guidelines in partnership with stakeholders. The guidelines contain information on the duration, structure and timing of placements, the settings and activities which are appropriate and the roles of all the key stakeholders. Specifically, the guidelines state that in accredited ITE programmes, there must be a school placement component, which must take place in at least two settings while the second half of the programme should include one block placement for a minimum of ten weeks. In relation to the specific issue referred to by the Senator, the Teaching Council has advised that, earlier this year, one higher education institution with an accredited ITE programme proposed that an arrangement regarding school placement be made available to the small number of its students who were in employment as teachers. The Minister is informed that the arrangement is consistent with the council's school placement guidelines. The council has approved the proposal in respect of students from the 2014 and 2015 entry cohorts who meet the specified criteria. The arrangement will be reviewed by the institution concerned and a report will be submitted to the council in line with normal arrangements. The overall student placement arrangements are, of course, subject to the normal quality assurance procedures of the council.

The Minister reminds the House that the Teaching Council is the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the teaching profession and the maintenance of standards in the profession. As already stated, the council has statutory responsibility for the review and accreditation of ITE programmes and has published criteria and guidelines for providers in order to ensure that their programmes meet the council’s accreditation requirements. The Minister is satisfied that the arrangements agreed by the council in this case are in accordance with best practice, as set out in the school placement guidelines.