The fact that Ireland has a remarkable tradition of teaching is probably no surprise to anyone who knows that the average student coming into primary teacher education is in the top quarter of all those going into third-level education.

Dr Andy Burke, senior lecturer in education at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, which is now linked to Dublin City University, says that teaching students in Ireland tend to be of a much higher standard than elsewhere. "In other countries, they take them from the lower quarter or the lower half - and in some countries you take teaching when you can't get anything else."

This autumn, there are approximately 400 first-years taking a place on the three-year St Pat's bachelor of education degree. Approximately 10 per cent of students tend to be matures. The fact that only 12 per cent are male follows a in long trend. Between 1930 and 1970, approximately 32 per cent of teachers in Ireland were male and St Patrick's College was all-male, says Burke. Since all the colleges went co-educational in 1970, the proportion of male teachers decreased to 22 per cent, and since 1970 for every increase of one man in primary teaching there has been an increase of 230 women in primary teaching.

Burke thinks that potential student teachers should see it as a challenging profession for male and female. He says that teaching is "more demanding than it has ever been in the past because of the way society has changed. A much higher level of service is now being demanded and teachers are expected to provide it." He says the position of today's teachers is almost like that of the GPs of old - they are expected to be psychiatrists, sociologists and counsellors.

In the first year any BEd student will take two academic subjects, as well as educational studies, on a 50:50 basis. Academic subjects include English, Irish, French, history, geography, music, mathematics, religious studies and bioscience.

When they move into second year they drop one of the academic subjects and go on from there with one academic subject and education studies.

Two-thirds of contact time is devoted to education studies. The practical areas of the educational portion of the course amount to 76 per cent and theoretical areas are 24 per cent. The theoretical areas cover subjects such as philosophy, sociology and history of education, a course on the professional nature of teaching, and the principles of child-centred teaching.

With the changing face of education, new combinations of old subjects are coming in: social, environmental and science education; social personal and health education; ICT; and the area of early childhood is being expanded. Although the theory is very broad, the course in not overly theoretical, as the majority of the course is dedicated to all the curriculum areas. Included in this is 17 weeks over three years teaching in the real world.

A proposal, which is expected to be included in a forthcoming report from the review body, will be for a fourth year to be added on to the course.

This would be very school-based, school focused and professional. Burke says that in teaching, like other disciplines, "one should spend more time learning to think about the job, on the job". Currently, students training to be primary-school teachers spend 17 weeks of their three years doing classroom practice. This works out at about five weeks per academic year.

"The argument is that that's too short, that it's a bit too artificial and unreal, that they should be there for a longer period."

Regardless of whether BEd students decide on teaching as their ultimate career, Burke believes it is a "superb primary degree. They take a major and a minor academic subject outside of education. Within education they take substantial courses in philosophy, psychology, sociology and history. They are also trained in public speaking." They will also learn Irish in an environment Burke describes as a "very happy place", which is "small enough to be familiar". The office doors are always open, he says. Students are always welcome to come and talk to lecturers.