10,000 signatures reached
To: The Department of Education and the Minister for Education Norma Foley, TD
Stop the changes to Professional Development training courses for teachers in Ireland
The Department of Education, on the 30th of January 2023, published a range of radical changes to the format and requirements for all Online Summer Courses (Professional development courses) for primary school teachers in Ireland.
There was no consultation with teachers or training providers in advance of announcing these changes. If implemented, this will effectively mean the end of Online Summer Courses for teachers by 2025, replacing them with live video training sessions.
We want the Department of Education to postpone the changes and give us an opportunity to meet and consult with training providers and teachers on these proposals before any changes are made.
Applications for the 2023 programme are due in just a few weeks and this does not leave enough time to plan for radical changes, whilst the new requirements would effectively mean the elimination of online teacher summer courses by 2025, replaced with live video learning (a massive step backwards, in our view).
The INTO statement on the matter calls for similar and we are in agreement: https://www.into.ie/2023/01/31/into-condemns-lack-of-consultation-on-professional-development-courses/
There are many changes, but the most concerning include:
• All teachers choosing to train must engage in 8 hours of live classes during their summer holidays in 2023, increasing to 15 hours in 2025
• All courses must be 2 weeks in duration
Imposing these requirements for inflexible training such as this will only lead to reduced participation and less meaningful engagement for the majority of participants. We ask that the Department of Education engage with us immediately as a matter of urgency.
Why is this important?
It is important that the level of anger, frustration and concern from teachers across Ireland about these changes is shared with the Minister and Department of Education so that they understand why these requirements are making it increasingly difficult for teachers to upskill, train and qualify for their EPV days entitlements and CPD certification.