Initial Teacher Education in Ireland—A Case Study

Abstract

This chapter examines how international research and the literature on good practice in initial teacher education has been reflected and refracted within a national policy. Influenced by Global Education Reform Movement, teacher education has become the object of state intervention and regulation, at a period when the government is seeking to recapture economic prosperity and competitiveness. Reflecting the turn to practice within the literature, the role and place of school placement and partnership with schools has been reformed and university-schools partnerships are now a mandated requirement for the accreditation of programmes. In parallel, influenced by the need to achieve critical mass to support and maintain educational research, partnership between higher education institutions has also been mandated, resulting in a loss of institutional autonomy for ITE providers. Partnership within teacher education has taken on new shades of understanding within the Irish landscape, and the reform of teacher education in Ireland in recent years, provides an interesting case study of change in teacher education.