EDUCATION NEWS:Hibernia course to blend on-site and online tuition
HIBERNIA COLLEGE, the highly profitable online course provider, has secured approval to train second-level teachers.
The college, which has already trained about 4,000 primary teachers, will offer its new post-primary teacher education programme shortly.
The new higher diploma in arts in post-primary education will be delivered using a blend of online and on-site tuition and is aimed at degree-holders who wish to become second-level teachers.
Yesterday, Dr Seán Rowland, college president, said Hibernia hoped to “open up post-primary teaching in Ireland to experienced professionals who can bring their life experience to the classrooms”.
This new programme is accredited by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council and ratified by the Teaching Council of Ireland.
Hibernia, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, charges graduates about €9,000 for its postgraduate primary teaching course.
Last year, it generated gross profits of close to €4 million.
The move into second-level teacher training will bring Hibernia into competition with the universities currently offering the programme: UCD, Trinity College, NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, UCC, UL and Dublin City University.
The decision to allow Hibernia to provide primary teacher training in 2003 unleashed a storm of protest from the established teacher-training colleges and their students; they claimed the move would undermine the status of the primary teacher. But strong feedback from school principals about the quality of Hibernia graduates has helped to dispel these concerns. Hibernia only accepts about 25 per cent of applicants to maintain quality. It now has more primary teacher graduates each year than any other programme in the country.
The college has also appointed high-profile and respected educational figures to its board. Its current chairman is Dr Don Thornhill, a former secretary general of the Department of Education and a former head of the Higher Education Authority.
Hibernia’s critics will see the move as signalling the increased privatisation of education. The McCarthy report on the public service pointed out that Hibernia had managed to train thousands of primary teachers at no cost to the taxpayer. The annual cost of supports to St Patrick’s and Mary Immaculate teacher-training colleges was €40 million.
Hibernia hopes the projected increase in population will feed demand for new second-level teachers.
Last month, Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn said 22 new post-primary schools will need to be built in Ireland over the next five years to meet the demands of our growing population.
Hibernia College won a gold award at the 2010 UK e-Learning Age Awards for its existing teacher education programmes.
The new programme in Ireland will use the latest web-based learning technology and includes downloadable, multimedia-enhanced lectures, live online tutorials and access to an extensive online library.
The programme’s on-site tutorials will take place on weekends at various locations around the country and students will also complete three blocks of school experience and teaching practice.
