9.3.4 Teacher education

9.3.4 Teacher education

Many actions relating to teacher education in the Gaeltacht Education Policy have been implemented successfully

Many actions relating to teacher education in the Gaeltacht Education Policy have been implemented successfully.These actions, which relate in particular to the provision of Irish-medium education programmes, have helped to promote a high level of Irish-language proficiency among teachers participating in the programmes. They include:

■The establishment of a four-year Irish-medium programme for primary teachers, which is the

first initial teacher education (ITE) programme in the history of the State delivered entirely through the medium of Irish. This teacher education programme has additional entry and exit criteria to ensure that graduates attain high levels of Irish-language proficiency. The programme is delivered by Marino Institute of Education and, since its commencement in 2019, has provided between thirty and forty new places per annum. There are approximately 105 students participating in the programme and the first cohort of primary teachers will graduate in 2023.

■A Master of Education (M.Ed.) programme, focusing on Irish-medium and Gaeltacht

Education and delivered through blended learning, commenced in Mary Immaculate College in 2018 with additional Irish-language entry and exit criteria. The Department provides funding for thirty new places annually. A total of forty-eight students graduated from this Masters programme between 2020 and 2021. Two further cohorts of thirty students are participating in this programme currently.

■Since 2017, two teachers have been seconded to support the delivery of the Professional

Masters in Education (Máistir Gairmiúil san Oideachas) in the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway. Twenty-five participants graduated from the programme in 2019/20, a further twenty-seven graduated in 2020/21 and it is expected that up to thirty-two participants will graduate from the next cohort. The provision of COGG bursaries has boosted the uptake for this ITE programme for post-primary teachers.

■Market research is underway to support the implementation of another teacher education

policy action. This relates to the development of a consecutive two-year Irish-medium blended learning ITE programme for post-primary teachers.

As members of the monitoring groups that oversee the implementation of these actions, inspectors provide ongoing advice to support the work of the Higher Education Institutions.