Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2017
8. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which his Department supports and the total investment involved in teacher continuing professional development at primary and post-primary levels; the detail as a percentage of education spending overall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31563/17]
View answerThis is related in a sense to the previous question. It relates to continuing professional development for teachers. The Minister made a number of pointed comments about the real importance of leadership in schools at primary and secondary level. I share that view, it is critical, but the Minister should remember that every teacher, and I am surrounded by them at the moment, is a leader in his or her own classroom. A teacher who is a leader, who has an opportunity to get continuing professional development education, is what provides the best experience for pupils. Will the Minister tell us his thoughts on this? He is in the job for some time.
The Deputy's question is not just about leadership, so I will have to answer the question she originally tabled.
Continuing professional development is critical to developing leadership.
That is correct, but continuing professional development applies to all teachers, not only to the leaders in the schools.
What I am saying is that every teacher is a leader in their own classroom.
I will answer the question. A key objective in the Action Plan for Education 2016–2019 is to develop the continuum of teacher education to equip teachers with the right skills for 21st century teaching and learning and improve school leadership. The quality of our teaching profession is a critical factor in sustaining and enhancing the quality of education outcomes. Specific targets for 2017 are outlined in the action plan.
My Department spent approximately €46.5 million on teacher continuing professional development, CPD, in 2016. The teacher CPD budget represents 0.56% of my Department's overall net expenditure, and also includes higher education, because that was the question that was asked. The expenditure of €46.5 million includes all costs associated with the provision of CPD at primary and post-primary level funded by the Department.
The professional development needs of serving teachers are being addressed through the provision of an induction programme for newly qualified teachers, support for new and revised curriculum areas, including junior cycle, the new primary language curriculum and ongoing support for the curriculum generally with a particular focus on priority areas: literacy and numeracy, well-being, support for school leaders and for teachers to meet the needs of children with special educational needs.
The responsibilities of the centre for school leadership cover the range of leadership development from pre-appointment training and induction of newly appointed principals to CPD throughout leaders' careers. Other areas of expenditure include training for child protection, board of management training, a teacher fee refund scheme, teacher professional networks and a number of postgraduate programmes to meet particular identified needs such as the teaching of mathematics and special educational needs.
The Minister misunderstands me somewhat. I said two things, first that the Minister has referred to leadership in schools in the sense of people in posts of responsibility and principalships. In my view of education, every teacher is a leader in his or her own classroom because when the door to the classroom shuts, what happens in that classroom is influenced enormously by the interaction between the teacher and the pupils in the classroom. This is where continuing professional development is so important. It will also send a message of confidence to those thinking of joining the teaching profession and those in it already. In my own constituency of Dublin West there is a great number of very young teachers in new schools because we have had a population explosion. If their skills, enthusiasm and talent is to be retained, it is important that they get adequate opportunities to develop as professionals.
The Deputy did not get around to asking a question.
What is the Minister doing about it?
I agree with the Deputy entirely on the importance of teachers in transforming the learning environment. It is probably the most effective thing we can do to improve education standards. That is proven by international data as well as our own. It is heartening to see the progress we are making in mathematics, science and literacy standards. We are seeing huge improvements in these areas and that is due to the leadership of teachers in the classroom. Equally, we want to develop a stronger planning capability within the schools. We have developed systems of self-evaluation in schools in which the school principal and staff engage. That is why the centre for school leadership has been established to provide additional supports to leaders within schools who are doing that kind of planning. My own inspectorate is also working with those schools and we now have school visits that are not the usual type of thing with an cigire coming in with his red pencil to see what was going wrong but are advisory and supportive visits to schools. These are very successful and I want to see more of that done. I also want to evaluate the quality of the CPD we are doing. The Deputy is correct. It is an investment of €46.5 million. Perhaps it should be more, but we should do a deep dive to see its quality and impact, establish what is working best and how we might improve it as we go along.
Similarly, I recognise the importance of CPD in developing leadership. However, newly qualified teachers feel that induction workshops are being imposed on them. I have been contacted by a number of newly qualified teachers who have said it is a waste of time. We need to look at how we are doing it. It is fine if teachers feel they want to do extra CPD, whether in special education or IT, but it is wrong to impose anything on our newly qualified teachers, and I ask the Minister to look at those induction workshops.
There is a genuine difference between these. Most teachers do classroom practice as part of their training, but equally there is a process of people transferring from the college to the classroom setting. Principals and other members of staff are key in helping such a student develop into a member of staff and deploy their skills that they learned in college in the most effective way. They will probably have the most progressive skills available. Induction programmes, where appropriately designed, can also help to make those transitions. We often speak of the importance of transitions in education, and the transition from the education training to practical application is something to which we should devote time, but if the Deputy has particular concerns about the programme and what goes into it, we can look at improving induction supports.
