Places on teacher training courses should be reserved for graduates with science degrees, the Minister of Education Mary Hanafin said today.
The minister said teachers needed to be trained for the reality of today's classrooms and that teacher training must keep pace with "revolutionary" changes in schools.
Speaking at the the launch of the OECD report `Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers', Ms Hanafin said the scarcity of teachers in some areas needed to be addressed.
"One obvious area of scarcity, and one that is of great concern to the Government given its potential impact on the country's economic future, is the lack of science graduates going into teaching," the minister said.
"I want to see reserved places on our H Dip programmes for graduates of science degrees and other areas where there are insufficient numbers coming through."
The minister said one in five primary school teachers were working in special needs and every teacher found themselves teaching students with special needs.
"There is a growing emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy skills, underpinned by a number of important reports.
"Coupled with the increased focus on social inclusion, interculturalism, and on the use of Information and Communication Technologies, each of these developments has led to major changes in what we expect of our teachers," she said.
The Minister of Education said some training programmes had become too academic at the expense of core teaching skills, and must be reconsidered.
"We must all be prepared to make whatever changes are necessary to ensure that our pre-service teacher training courses prepare all our teachers for the realities of today's classroom," she said.