The decision by the Department of Education and Science to recognise a new on-line teacher training course run by a private college has stirred considerable controversy.
Yesterday, students from the traditional teacher training colleges marched to voice their concerns about the new 18-month graduate diploma course for primary teachers run by Hibernia College. The protest group - the Alliance for Professionalism in Teaching (APT) - is railing against a course which it claims will "destroy the quality of Irish education" and undermine the teaching profession.
For its part, Hibernia College claims it is a victim of a sustained campaign of vilification by Luddites, determined to hold back the onward march of on-line learning. Its course, which costs students €5,500, uses on-line content, live tutorials and face-to-face classes.
The decision to approve Hibernia - taken by HETAC, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council in July - represented a major policy departure.
For the first time, teacher training was to move outside the traditional college. For these colleges, the supposedly "secretive" manner in which the course was approved has compounded their concerns. HETAC insists that the process was fully transparent, pointing out that the assessment panel included an e-learning expert from IBM as well as experienced teachers. But it is also the case that approval for Hibernia was a fait accompli before there was any real debate about the merits of such a radical change in policy.
Hibernia may not be entirely wrong when it says there are "vested interests at work" who cannot accept change. On-line learning has many benefits, not least for students in rural and remote areas. But, it is still not entirely clear, as the APT pointed out yesterday, how a part-time on-line course can be the equivalent of a university accredited, full-time programme.
The Minister, Mr Dempsey, should address the very real concerns voiced by the protesting students yesterday. It is not good enough for the Department to say it simply recognised a HETAC-approved course. More information and greater transparency is required.