Minister of Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, T.D., announced that Mary Immaculate College has been selected to provide a new, innovative, cross-sectoral, blended learning postgraduate programme in Irish-medium education – M Ed in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education.
The tender awarded to Mary Immaculate College, through public procurement competition,
secures an investment of €2,100,000 from the Department of Education and Skills over five
years to provide the part-time two-year postgraduate programme.
The announcement fulfils a key commitment in the Policy on Gaeltacht Education, which
was launched by the Minister in 2016 and is the first Gaeltacht specific education policy in
the history of the state. The new places are an important measure to ensure Irish-medium
schools have an adequate supply of Irish-medium teachers.
Professor Eugene Wall, President (Acting) of Mary Immaculate College said “Despite
the diverse and dynamic nature of immersion programmes, there is a significant dearth of
research on a wide variety of topics relating to teacher development in immersion education.
Now more than ever, emphasis needs to be placed on research and on teacher education
and continuous professional development to reflect on and investigate the merits and challenges of Irish-medium immersion education in and outside Gaeltacht areas. Mary
Immaculate College is delighted to lead innovation in continuing professional development in
this continuously evolving sector to support, enhance and enrich pedagogic competencies,
leadership and research.”
The programme to commence in September 2018, will be delivered through a
complementary blend of rich and varied onsite and online quality learning opportunities
designed to enhance participant learning outcomes. At the launch, the Programme
Director, Dr TJ Ó Ceallaigh indicated that teacher preparation and professional
development are critical steps in the evolution of effective language immersion education in
Ireland.
Speaking at the event, he said: “Over the years, many studies have identified
challenges to the successful implementation of Irish-medium and Gaeltacht education.
Designing, implementing and refining Irish-medium and Gaeltacht education which
successfully promotes additive bilingualism, biliteracy, multicultural competence and
academic achievement requires considerable effort and support. Committed educators are
professionally charged to work systematically to engage all stakeholders in creative ways.
This responsibility needs to be underpinned by a strong knowledge base. This programme
will equip participants with those essential understandings, skills and strategies needed to
advance scholarly teaching, leadership and research in the field.”
The Acting Dean of Education at Mary Immaculate College, Dr Angela Canny, said “This cross-sectoral programme will provide participants with a clear sense of the contextual
realities and the challenges in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht education and enable them to
explore, analyse and critique same in a quest to enhance quality provision”.
Dr Canny paid a special tribute to Dr TJ Ó Ceallaigh for his leadership and coordination of
the successful bid. The postgraduate programme, M. Ed. in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education, a programme geared at the specific needs of primary and post primary teachers including principals working in the Irish-medium sector will commence in the college in September 2018.
Registration is now open.
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