Education Minister Ruairí Quinn (pictured)
, has told sources said that he was “surprised” by a recent address in which the president of Mary Immaculate, Limerick, Rev Prof Michael Hayes, stressed the college’s Catholic ethos, according to the Irish Times. This is despite the fact that Mary Immaculate College is a Catholic teacher training college.
Mr Quinn is set to order a review into teacher training colleges amid suggestions of course duplication and allegations that some colleges are spending too much time teaching religion.
In his inaugural speech [1] in February, Fr Hayes that the college’s Catholic ethos was an “essential part of our identity”.
He added: “So if, as the president of this Catholic college, I call on us all to come to a sharper, more explicit awareness of the college’s Catholic identity, then, as a community, it will challenge all of us to look at our own preconceptions and take on the difficult work of exploring together what this college is.”
In January of last year, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, was criticised by the Teaching Council for spending too much time teaching religion. It noted how the teaching time allocated to religious education was four times that provided for science or history.
The college prepares teaching for Catholic primary schools.
In an interview with the Irish Catholic, Dr Daniel O’Connell, lecturer in Religious Education, defended the college’s emphasis on religion, explaining that national school teachers were required to teach religion for a half an hour a day, which he described as “a heavy load to place on teachers”.
He said: “For a trainee teacher to engage in his or her subject to that extent, and in a thoughtful and reflective manner, the time offered at Mary Immaculate is required.”
He added that the students of Mary Immaculate College themselves had “never approached the college with any criticism of the hours dedicated to religious training”.
According to the Irish Times, the Minister’s review is set to pressurise smaller colleges to link up or amalgamate with larger universities. It is also expected to back the establishment of “institutes of education”.
These will provide all levels of teacher education on one campus at centres of excellence around the State. Courses for pre-primary, primary and second-level teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate level could be rolled out in one location, according to education sources.
Two senior education figures are to conduct the review by June. On receipt of this report a team of international experts will also examine how teacher education in Ireland can match best practice elsewhere.
Sources say the report may also examine the governance of the five teacher-training colleges; four are controlled by the Catholic Church and one by the Church of Ireland.
The initial review will be conducted by Prof Áine Hyland, former vice-president of UCC, and Áine Lawlor, former director of the Teaching Council, the regulatory group for teachers.
Recently, Mr Quinn has suggested that the time spent in schools on sacramental preparation might be the reason for Ireland falling behind in recent international tables on literacy and numeracy, despite the fact that the time spent on such preparation has not increased in recent years.