MAJOR CHANGES in teacher training from 2012 have been unveiled by Minister for Education Mary Coughlan to boost literacy and maths skills in Irish schools.
The initiative comes after a new report found over 14 per cent of English and mathematics lessons were unsatisfactory. The report, based on unannounced inspections by the Department of Education, is critical of teaching standards in many schools.
It found that teacher preparation for classes was unsatisfactory for 25 per cent of all lessons. It also says teacher assessment of pupils was unsatisfactory in 33 per cent of cases.
A separate report by the Educational Research Centre at St Patrick’s teacher training college in Dublin identified weaknesses in primary school pupils’ comprehension of English. It also highlighted poor performance in problem-solving in maths at primary level.
A draft plan to boost literacy and numeracy published yesterday proposes the following measures;
- Extending the BEd degree programme for primary teachers to four years. Many academic subjects will be dropped in favour of "the study of education and literacy and numeracy teaching":
- Extending the Higher Diploma in Education course for post-primary teaching to two years;
- Radically improving the way in which schools assess and report on students' progress in literacy and numeracy by publishing national standards;
- An onus on teachers to report to parents and the board of management on pupils' achievements;
- A minimum of 20 hours of in-service training on literacy and numeracy education for primary teachers and post-primary teachers of English (or Irish in Irish-medium schools) and maths every five years;
- Courses for principals on how to improve literacy and numeracy in schools.
