Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when she will approve the intake numbers into both the bachelor of education and professional master of education for the next academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53530/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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There are two routes recognised by the Teaching Council to become a primary teacher:

- A four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programme.

- A two-year post-graduate Professional Master of Education (PME) programme.

The undergraduate/B. Ed. model offers students who are beginning their tertiary education, and wish to pursue a career in teaching, an opportunity to acquire a teaching qualification. In the postgraduate/PME model, a teacher first obtains a qualification in one or more subjects (through an undergraduate degree), and then studies for a further period to gain the professional qualification in teaching.

There are four State-funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary initial teacher education (ITE). Each of these offers both a full time primary ITE undergraduate/B.Ed. and postgraduate/PME programme:

- DCU Institute of Education.

- Marino Institute of Education.

- Maynooth University (Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education)

- Mary Immaculate College.

There is one private provider, Hibernia College, which provides postgraduate (PME) programmes only (primary and post-primary).

The number of students admitted to primary concurrent and consecutive programmes in State-funded HEIs is determined by my Department, having regard to teacher supply and demand issues, and available resources. This process is currently underway within my Department and all the relevant HEIs will be notified upon its completion.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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116. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on whether the use of intake limits on public institutions to professional master of education programmes as a policy lever to control teacher supply has led to the de-facto privatisation of approximately 50% of primary teacher training; her plans to return primary teacher training through professional master of education to predominantly public provision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53531/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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There are 5 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary Initial Teacher Education in Ireland, four State-funded and one private provider.

Each of the State-funded providers has both concurrent (undergraduate) and consecutive (postgraduate) programmes:

- DCU Institute of Education.

- Marino Institute of Education.

- Maynooth University (Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education)

- Mary Immaculate College.

The number of students admitted to primary concurrent and consecutive programmes in State-funded HEIs is determined by my Department, having regard to teacher supply and demand issues, and available resources. The intake has remained broadly stable, over the past number of years.

Hibernia College is a privately owned institution which provides a primary consecutive (postgraduate) ITE programme only. My Department has no involvement in setting the numbers for Hibernia.

The number of graduates per year, across the various institutions, is set out in this table. The Deputy will see that in total, the number of graduates from State-funded providers continues to exceed the number of graduates from the private provider.

Number of Graduates from Primary Initial Teacher Education per year.

*Final Figures for 2020 not yet confirmed.

The Deputy will be aware that considerable work has been taking place, in the Department, with regard to teacher supply and demand. In that context, in November 2019 the Department published a technical report –‘Developing a Teacher Demand and Supply Model for Ireland 2020-2036’. The report was updated in May 2021 with projections of teacher demand and supply to 2038. Ultimately, the intention is to establish a robust data based model for the effective projection of future teacher demand and supply across the school system.

The Department commenced development of a Policy Statement for ITE in 2019, to take stock of significant changes to the policy landscape across the past decade, including the emerging data around teacher supply. Extensive consultations have taken place with stakeholders connected with ITE and the document is due to be finalized in the coming months.