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MINISTER FOR EDUCATION Norma Foley has announced the approval of 610 additional places on primary initial teacher education (ITE) college courses over the next two years.
Following engagement with the four higher education institutions providing initial teacher education, the minister has approved 610 additional places with 320 of these coming on stream in 2023, and the remaining 290 in 2024.
This will bring the total number of course places across the three programmes to over 1,500 by 2025.
The announcement comes as the government aims to tackle teacher shortages, having recently announced that teachers who qualified outside of the country will be allowed to register and complete their induction in Ireland for a limited time.
Teachers and unions hit out at Foley last year over plans that her department was reportedly considering ending career breaks for teachers in order to keep more of them in schools.
One teacher told The Journal: “I can’t understand why Norma Foley would say ‘let’s get rid of career breaks for teachers,’ and think that will make people want to be a teacher.”
90 additional places will be added on Bachelor in Education programmes this year and in 2024, bringing the total of B.Ed places to 1,090 each year.
30 additional places will be created for the Bachelor in Education through the Medium of Irish in September 2023, doubling the current number of places.
These 30 places will be added to the Marino Institute of Education for the 2023/24 academic year only, the Department of Education has confirmed.
200 more places on the Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) (PME) programme in 2023 and 2024 will be added.
Minister Foley said today:
“Primary school teaching remains a very popular career option, both for students leaving school, and people turning to teaching mid-career. Over successive Budgets we have been successful in increasing the number of teaching posts available in our schools, bringing the pupil: teacher ratio down to its lowest ever level, growing the number of DEIS schools and increasing the number of home school liaison and special education posts.”
“All of this, combined with the growth in student numbers in recent months have contributed to a high demand for primary school teachers. I wish to acknowledge the higher education institutions’ commitment to this increased number of students on the Primary B.Ed., B.Oid. and Primary PME programmes.”
“This is in addition to a number of measures taken and underway which are intended to address current challenges in the area of teacher supply in primary and post-primary schools. I and my Department continue to work collaboratively with the education partners to ensure teacher supply.”
The extra course places will be created at Dublin City University, Mary Immaculate College, Marino Institute of Education and Maynooth University.
A Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) survey found that 91% of post-primary schools experienced recruitment difficulties in the past six months, while 61% reported problems with teacher retention.
The number of students admitted to education programmes is determined by the Department of Education, depending on current teacher supply and demand issues, and available resources.
The department stated that teacher demand has been increasing partly due to the extension of DEIS status to 322 additional schools from September, increased provision for students with special educational needs, along with the enrolment of over 9,300 Ukrainian pupils.
It is anticipated that demand for primary teachers over the next number of years will exceed previous expectations, the department said.
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The NHS website on mpox states that it is usually a mild illness for most people and resolves by itself within a few weeks.
Is there a US election coming up and postal voting needs to be justified?
@Lewis Armstrong: absolutely.
@Lewis Armstrong: good grief. They don’t need to justify postal voting in the US, it’s allowed in 33 states as a right, and most of the rest under certain circumstances. They don’t need an epidemic or pandemic. I guess your post and all the likes it got, just goes to show how many stupid people there are out there. Who knew.
@Lewis Armstrong: The NHS is referring to Clade II from West Africa, which caused a global outbreak a few years ago. This outbreak involved a different strain, Clade I from centra Africa. It’s a much more severe disease.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same viral family as smallpox. It was first discovered in 1958 in lab monkeys imported from Africa, however its natural host is more likely several species of rodents. The first human case was recorded in 1970 in a 9-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This region eliminated smallpox just 2 year earlier, so Doctors were initially fearful it was the return of smallpox, but that was soon ruled out and identified monkeypox (mpox).
The virus is now endemic to parts of Central and West Africa, where it historically caused small sporadic outbreaks, but in May 2022 the virus spread outside West Africa for the first time, likely due to a mutation that increased its contagiousness. This was a much milder form of the disease.
There are two main clades of the virus:
1. Clade I, found primarily in Central Africa
2. Clade II, found in West Africa and responsible for the recent global outbreak [1].
Clade I mpox poses a threat due to its potential for sustained human-to-human transmission and its ability to cause severe illness, particularly in vulnerable populations, pregnant women and children.
Also, while the previous global outbreak that involved milder clade II primarily affected adult men who have sex with men, it had a fatality rate well below 1%, the DRC outbreak involving Clade I is much more virulent (severe) and predominantly affects children, with recent data showing that children under 15 years of age account for 66% of cases and 82% of deaths [2]. Clade 1 has a much higher case fatality rate than Clade II, of around 3.6%–4.9% (though there may be many undiagnosed cases, and if so, this might be an overestimate).
Also, the virus is of particular concern for pregnant women. Recent studies have shown alarming rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with Clade I. In an older study conducted in the DRC between 2007 and 2011 involving Clade I, 75% of pregnant women with mpox experienced miscarriage or stillbirth [3]. The current outbreak in South Kivu province, during 2023-present, confirmed these findings, with 50% of infected pregnant women experiencing fetal loss [4]. Additionally, the virus can infect both the placenta and fetus, causing congenital infection and disease in surviving newborns.
References:
[1] Bunge EM, Hoet B, Chen L, Lienert F, Weidenthaler H, Baer LR, Steffen R. The changing epidemiology of human monkeypox—A potential threat? A systematic review. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Feb 11;16(2):e0010141. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010141.
[2] World Health Organization. Disease Outbreak News. Mpox—Democratic Republic of the Congo. 14 June 2024. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON522
[3] Mbala PK, Huggins JW, Riu-Rovira T, Ahuka SM, Mulembakani P, Rimoin AW, Martin JW, Muyembe JT. Maternal and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women With Human Monkeypox Infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo. J Infect Dis. 2017 Oct 17;216(7):824-828. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jix260.
[4] Schwartz DA. High Rates of Miscarriage and Stillbirth among Pregnant Women with Clade I Mpox (Monkeypox) Are Confirmed during 2023–2024 DR Congo Outbreak in South Kivu Province. Viruses. 2024; 16(7):1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16071123
@David Jordan: thank you for the information.
@Lewis Armstrong: cop yourself on. Sad that you think that this would prevent inperson voting. Or that the entire planet would conspire for the bloody US elections.
Close the schools, close the pubs, start up the PUP
Get off!!… love my commuter traffic and chicken fillet rolls more than a delicious lifestyle. lol we’re impossible
Should we not stop all travel from the infected countries before it gets here
@John Reynolds: it’s here. There were cases last year. Like covid it’s here forever and a day.
They should not be shagging tge monkies
@Sean Money: or the chim.pansies
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: or the feckin apes.
@Sean Money:
Monkey…Monkey! I’m a Gorilla you bloody ape!
We need vaccines. More vaccines. Quickly
@mickey mac: and this time no one is getting away
@mickey mac: Hopefully ones that work this time…
@mickey mac: Do you work for the UK government?
@pat kelly: vaccines do work extremely well, and save millions of lives every year
@mickey mac: the vaccine for this has existed for years. It’s the same one that totally wiped out smallpox and saved humanity from one of the most horrible diseases.
@mickey mac: Quick, close the pubs. Get in the toilet rolls. Self isolate. Restrict visits to hospital and care homes. Oh! Get the monkey jab.
@pat kelly: it is working for THEIR intended purposes….
I’ll wait for Bono’s opinion over The Who!
@Patrick MC Dermott: I never knew one had to wait for a Bono opinion. You learn something every day…..
“…most cases were among men who are gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men (gbMSM).” The last lot are still either gay or bisexual.
Bill gates didn’t predict this one..
CLOSE THE PUBS !
Tammany Hall Democrats, would teach FFG a thing or two!
@Brian Hunt: like what?
@pat kelly: Like how to manipulate elections!
Insert Michael Jackson popcorn GIF…
Woeful dose
@Fintan Pox: Pleased to meet you, I’m Eamon.
@Fintan Pox: I hope you’re not speaking from experience?
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