Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration is being given by the Teaching Council to review the new requirements to become a primary school teacher and to consider flexibility in primary school training requirements in order that a candidate that would like to train to become a primary school teacher would be able to do so with a level 8 degree as a qualification in view of the shortage of primary school teachers nationally. [43732/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Management bodies and schools have, in recent years, reported difficulties in recruiting teachers. At primary level this relates mainly to the recruitment of substitute teachers and at post-primary level to the recruitment of teachers of particular subjects (STEM, modern foreign languages, Irish and Home Economics, in particular). 

In response to the Deputy’s question, I refer to the current entry requirements to programmes of primary initial teacher education (ITE); the process and requirements for accreditation of programmes, across both the undergraduate and postgraduate entry routes to primary teaching and the actions being taken in relation to supply of teachers at primary under the Teacher Supply Action Plan.

Entry Requirements for ITE

Minimum Entry Requirements for primary ITE are set by the Minister for Education and Skills. The Minimum Entry Requirements (MERs) for English, Mathematics and Gaeilge were announced in October 2017 and require achieving Leaving Certificate grades of O4/H7, O4/H7 and H4 respectively and apply for all students wishing to undertake a Primary ITE programme.  These higher grades apply from September 2019 for those entering the Bachelor of Education and from September 2021 for those wishing to enter the Primary Professional Master of Education. 

Accreditation of programmes

The Teaching Council has a central role in setting the standards for ITE, through accreditation of the programmes and setting the standards for teachers to gain entry to the Register of Teachers. All primary ITE programmes must be accredited in accordance with the Teaching Council’s Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers (2011, updated in 2017). The Criteria and Guidelines provide for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of initial teacher education, as a means to be registered as a primary teacher:

-  Undergraduate programmes (often referred to as concurrent programmes or the Bachelor of Education) must be of at least four years’ duration. These programmes are awarded at level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). Most entrants come via the CAO; however some entrants may be mature students, including those who may already have a Level 8 qualification.

-  Post-graduate programmes (often referred to as consecutive programmes, or the Professional Master of Education) must be at least two years’ duration. These programmes are awarded at Level 9 on the NFQ. All entrants to the post-graduate programme must have an honours degree, before being accepted onto the programme.

These entry routes continue to allow for a diversity of ways to enter into the teaching profession.

Teacher Supply

The Steering Group on Teacher Supply, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department, is overseeing the implementation of the Teacher Supply Action Plan, which I launched in November 2018.

A number of actions following from the plan support the supply of substitute teachers in primary schools, including:

-  The creation of new substitute teacher supply panels on a pilot basis in 6 locations that have been identified as having the greatest challenge in terms of sourcing substitute teachers (two panels in Dublin and one each in Kildare, Meath, Cork and Galway);

-  The development of an online substitute teacher recruitment portal, to match available teachers with short term substitute teacher vacancies in schools.