Primary and secondary school teachers will face a new induction process from September of 2012 in order to address “significant weaknesses” in the current system, Tánaiste and Minister for Education Mary Coughlan has announced.
Ms Coughlan announced the measure today when she spoke at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal.
She said an area where teachers had been “let down” to date was in making the transition from training and qualification to teaching in the classroom.
The reforms will involve giving powers to the Teaching Council in relation to the induction and probation of teachers from September 2012.
While the detail of the policy had yet to be put in place, teachers would “at a minimum” be required to complete an “approved induction programme as part of a new probationary process that has robust external and internal verification mechanisms”.
As a precursor to this, a new “induction support” programme would be made available to all primary teachers qualifying from September of this year and to all new post-primary teachers as soon as possible in the new school year.
Ms Coughlan said the programme would be delivered in education centres or other “suitable locations” in out-of-school time for about 20 hours over the course of the year.
“It will provide professional support and further development suited to the professional learning needs of newly qualified teachers. The reform is an important one that should assist teachers overcome challenges and problems they face in adjusting to the classroom dynamic.”
“There is significant evidence from different jurisdictions that the putting in place of effective arrangements for the induction and probation of newly qualified teachers can make a significant contribution to the quality of the teaching profession,” she said.
“As with any aspect of human behaviour, it is in a teacher’s first months and year in post that they will develop the techniques and habits that will stay with them for the duration of their careers – it is a critical period for any young professional, including the teacher.”
Ms Coughlan said our system of induction and probation to date had had “significant weaknesses”.
“Induction support for teachers at primary level is limited and has not involved the principal and the teaching profession sufficiently. With some small number of exceptions, induction support at post-primary level is virtually non-existent.”
Ms Coughlan said the probationary process for teachers was also “well below the optimum”.
“At primary level, it excludes any meaningful involvement of the employer – the management of the school. At post-primary level, it involves, in most cases, the sign-off of a principal teacher without any observation of the teacher’s work in the classroom.
“The current system is therefore making a very limited contribution to teacher quality and reform is required.”
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said the proposals would not provide adequate support to newly qualified teachers.
Deputy general secretary Noel Ward said existing supports for many newly qualified teachers, developed over many years, were being “watered down” for delivery to every teacher in the country.
He said the proposals had little to do with reform and more to do with staffing cuts in the Department’s inspectorate and financial restraints than with developing an effective system of induction.
Mr Ward said if the Minister wanted to provide real and meaningful support to teachers then she should have extended the National Project on Teacher Induction to all newly qualified teachers.
Established in 2002, the programme provided many newly qualified teachers with eight release days from class teaching with substitute cover to attend training courses or to work with a teacher mentor in school.
Ms Coughlan also said today ongoing review and reform of the curriculum to meet the needs of contemporary Ireland was “critical”. Such reform should result in a more “active learning experience” for the individual and aim to embed a “seed of creativity and innovation” in the learner.
“The traditional approach of teacher-led instruction and memorising of information must be replaced with a greater emphasis on critical thinking,” she said.