Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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281. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of places in each teacher training college for initial training for primary school teachers for the past two years, including 2023, in tabular form. [4088/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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There are 5 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland; four State-funded providers and one private provider.

Each of the State-funded providers have both concurrent (undergraduate) and consecutive (postgraduate) programmes:

•DCU Institute of Education.

•Marino Institute of Education.

•Maynooth University (Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education)

•Mary Immaculate College.

Each year, the number of students admitted to primary concurrent and consecutive programmes in State-funded HEIs is determined by my Department, having regard to teacher supply and demand issues, and available resources.

The approved intake over the last number of years, has been as follows:

•1,000 places per annum on the Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) programme

•30 places per annum on the Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) through the medium of Irish programme

•200 places per annum on the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme

Hibernia College is a privately owned institution which provides a primary consecutive (postgraduate) ITE programme only. My Department has no involvement in setting the numbers for Hibernia.

Recent policy advances, for example, the extension of DEIS status to 322 additional schools from September 2023, increased provision for students with special educational needs, and the positive changes in the staffing schedule which bring the pupil: teacher ratio in schools to a historic low, along with the enrolment of Ukrainian pupils have impacted on teacher demands and ongoing pressures relating to the availability of substitute teachers.

With these combined factors, it is anticipated that demand for primary teachers over the next number of years will exceed previous expectations.

Accordingly, following engagement with the 4 State-funded higher education institutions providing initial teacher education, I approved 610 additional places in March 2023. 320 were available to come on stream in 2023/24, and the remaining 290 in 2024/25.

The additional places are as follows:

•90 additional places on the B.Ed. programme in 2023/24 and 2024/25, making a total of 1,090 each year.

•30 additional places on the B.Ed. through the Medium of Irish in 2023/24, making a total of 60 in 2023/24.

•200 additional places on the Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) (PME) programme in 2023/24 and 2024/25, making a total of 400 each year.

The total number of primary initial teacher education places approved at each State-funded provider for the last two academic years 2022/23 and 2023/24 are as follows: