IPPN

Published: 09 March 2009

Source: Irish Independent

By Katherine Donnelly


Monday March 09 2009

A key Government adviser has come up with a groundbreaking plan to give a jobs lifeline to graduating second-level teachers next September.

His plan would see holders of the Higher Diploma in Education (HDip) employed as "apprentices" for up to two years at a rate of €20,000 a year, while studying for a Masters degree.

The cost would be Exchequer neutral -- by pooling existing funding from a variety of courses to pay about half the normal starting salary for teachers.

Professor Tom Collins, Dean of Teaching and Learning at National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM), has developed the idea with colleagues.

He sees it as a solution to meeting the needs of about 1,000 HDip students due to graduate this summer while plugging gaps caused by education cutbacks in second-level schools, which are due to lose about 1,000 teaching posts in September.

Prof Collins' remit extends well beyond his role in NUI Maynooth and he holds several Government advisory positions.

Currently he is chair of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), which advises on curricular matters at primary and second level, and is also chair of the Commission on Nursing Hours.

Prof Collins's plan has gained increasing relevance in light of Taoiseach Brian Cowen's recent commitment to a jobs placement scheme for graduates.

Discussion

It has not been formally presented to Government, but it has been the subject of informal discussion in education circles in recent weeks.

While it relates specifically to the HDipEd graduates, it could apply in other areas of the public sector. "The aim is to find a way in which newly qualified teachers can begin to practise their profession, which would allow them to continue their professional and academic development and to enhance the core curricular and extra curricular provision of the school and so mitigate the worst effect of the education cutbacks," Prof Collins said.

He said graduates from pre-service teacher education programmes would join the teaching staff of host schools on a studentship programme for a maximum of two years. They would provide 10 to 15 hours' teaching and extra curricular provision per week, as well as enrolling as masters students to develop their professional capabilities.

Crucially, Prof Collins said it would allow for minority subjects and programmes currently threatened by the cutbacks to be retained, and/or potentially free up other staff members in the school to pursue other studies if they wish.

He said participants in the scheme would be supernumerary and it would not result in a reduction of the current teacher allocation to the host school.

The scheme would require new funding relationships between the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Prof Collins said participants would normally qualify for a jobseekers' allowance of €10,000 per year, which could be made available using a similar arrangement to the one already in place on the Back to Education programmes.

This would be supplemented by a further €10,000 from sources such as the European Social Fund (ESF), which supports the introduction and improvement of provision for continuing the education and training of teachers, FAS, and resources available to schools.