The Ulster Teachers’ Union has welcomed the study of teacher-training provision to |be undertaken by the Department of Employment and Learning.
The review will examine the financial sustainability of current structures and explore the creation of a shared and integrated system for future delivery.
“Any such study is an opportunity to look at how best both the needs of student teachers and their future pupils can be met,” said Avril Hall Callaghan, general secretary of the UTU, Northern Ireland’s only locally-based teaching union.
“At a time of global economic crisis we must ensure our young people are educated to the highest standards to enable them to compete at world level. Their education is our future but in order to ensure a sound investment we must ensure that their teachers too have the best possible skills.
“This review is a chance to look at our system as it stands and to look at the future — to what we want for our children and their educators — a system which is inclusive, open and shared.”
However, Ms Hall Callaghan said teacher training should not be considered in isolation but alongside career development.
“Career development is an area that has long concerned us and about which we have been increasingly vocal. However, this is a chance for the Department to embrace some imaginative thinking on the subject,” she said.
“The last few years have represented an era of unprecedented change for teachers |in terms of the Revised |Curriculum, testing, key stage assessment, increased workload and new technology, to name but a few of the areas of concern,” she said.
“While teachers welcome the Revised Curriculum, we are conscious that the level of support to underpin its introduction hasn’t always been available.
As technology marches on it |is essential that teachers remain a step ahead if they are to |provide worthwhile education and support for their students in an increasingly competitive world.
“Career development is also crucial if the profession is to continue to attract the best candidates, people who can see a long term future for themselves in the classroom.
“But in order for teachers to undertake the kind of continued training to fulfil all |this, school principals need support.
“What better opportunity to use our newly and recently qualified young teachers by bringing them in to underpin this and release other staff members for training.”