Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of men who applied to each of the primary teacher education colleges in 2006; the number of men who applied in 2005; the number of women who applied to each of the colleges in 2006 and in 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34137/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The student application figures for places on the B. Ed. programmes in the Colleges of Education are not readily available. However, I have asked my officials to secure the number of applications to the Colleges of Education from the CAO and I would be glad to provide this material to the Deputy once available.

My Department has information on the numbers of students currently pursuing B. Ed. programmes at First Year in the Colleges. These students represent applications for the programmes who achieved the required entry standards and have registered in the Colleges. This information covers the student enrolment figures for the years 2005/06 and 2006/07.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the figures show an overall increase of 11.5% in the number of males enrolled in the Colleges of Education in the current academic year. The figures are:

The Deputy will be aware that since the 1970s there has been a significant and continuous decline in the number of males entering the teaching profession, particularly at primary level. In the 1970s, approximately 30% of teachers were male and this had declined to approximately 18% in 2005. A similar decline in numbers has been experienced in most OECD countries.

My Department established The Primary Education Committee in October of 2003 to examine a range of issues in relation to males entering primary teaching, and to make recommendations on short-term and long-term strategies to increase the numbers in this regard. This work resulted in the publication of the Committee's final report, entitled: Males into Primary Teaching, which I launched in November of 2005.

One of the key recommendations in the Report calls for a co-ordinated promotion campaign, which would encourage boys as well as girls to enter primary teaching, should be undertaken.

The Deputy will also be aware that I launched the Men As Teachers and Educators (MATEs) Promotion Campaign aimed to attract more males into the teaching profession. Following a competitive tendering process, an advertising agency (QMP) was engaged in January, 2006 to assist my Department in designing and managing the Men As Teachers and Educators campaign.

The campaign aims to highlight the wide variety of skills that a primary teacher uses, and to promote the rewards of being a teacher such as the value to society, work/life balance, career satisfaction, diversity of skills, professional development, conditions of employment and job security.

The target audience for the campaign includes:

Young males 14+, with particular focus on those considering CAO course choices,

Parents of school-going boys and girls

Guidance Counsellors

Teachers

Mature students.

The campaign commenced in January of this year and, to date, it has included advertisements in the national newspapers, two phases of advertisements on national and local radio stations, a poster campaign in schools, and the placement of banner ads on specifically identified websites.

The next phase of the campaign will be put in place in the coming weeks. The Teaching Council will be involved in this coming phase, in line with the recommendations of the Primary Education Committee's Report.

While it is very encouraging to note that the enrolment figures indicate an increase in the number of males entering the Colleges of Education this year, it is too early to draw conclusions as to the effect of the campaign at this stage and it is expected that any effect would take a number of years to emerge. Indeed, the campaign is targeted, inter alia, at students who have yet to make subject choices for the Senior Cycle and any effect here would not yet be visible in the numbers applying for teacher training colleges.

I would like to assure the Deputy that the campaign to attract more males into teaching will continue and the number of males entering the profession will continue to be closely monitored by my Department.