News Archive

Professor Tom O’Donoghue from UWA’s Graduate school of Education has launched a new publication on teacher preparation in Ireland, in response to the introduction of free second-level schooling 50 years ago.

Since the initiative was announced in 1967, secondary education completion rates have risen from only 50% to now more than 90% of Ireland’s population, one of the highest rates of completion in the European Union.

The publication, Teacher Preparation in Ireland: History, Policy and Future Directions published by Emerald Publishing Ltd. (UK), examines how the quality of teacher education has affected, and continues to affect the quality of education in Ireland and can inform future policy development around the world.

Professor O’Donoghue, who co-wrote the publication with Professor Teresa O’Doherty, Mary Immaculate College Limerick (MIC) and Professor Judith Harford, University College Dublin (UCD), said without a clear understanding of the history of teacher education we can’t be properly informed when making policy decisions.

“This book is only the first in a large series. The next volume will be on Australia, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Zambia, France, Scotland and England. Each will be written by an international scholar in the field”, Professor O’Donoghue said.

“It is only by coming to an understanding of the situation in a wide variety of other countries that we can come to a comprehensive understanding of the situation in our own country.”

The publication Teacher Preparation in Ireland: History, Policy and Future Directions was launched at MIC on 23 January and is available to purchase online .

Media references

Rachael Chamberlain (Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education)

(+61 8) 6488 5597