James Cunningham

G00306653
Continuous Assessment No 1:
Teaching & Learning Portfolios (phase 1) AND 4 Tutorial
Papers

Programme:
Education

B.Sc. (Hons) in Design & Technology

Year:

Module:

Professional Studies

Marks:

25%

Submission Date:

Module Leader:

Dec 1st, 2015.

Dr. Pauline Logue Collins

Mr. Kevin Maye

External Examiner:
Dr. Elaine McDonald
Mr. Tom Rowan
Name of Student:

James Cunningham

Article:

Teaching Council of Ireland, (June 2011).

Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education was drafted in 2007

by the Teaching Council of Ireland. To begin with, the Council
commissioned two pieces of research. Firstly, a position paper entitled
A Review Paper on thinking and Policies Relating to Teacher Education
in Ireland, prepared by Dr. John Coolahan and Professor Emeritus
followed by a study entitled Learning to Teach: A Nine Country Cross
National Study which was undertaken by a group of researchers from
University College Cork led by Dr. Paul Conway.
On February 4th 2008, the Council initiated a national debate on the
continuum of teacher education. Following from the feedback from this
the Council outlined the development of its Policy Paper. In October
2008, this outline document was discussed over several meetings by the
partners in education. In June 2009 a sub group was set up by the
Council to further develop the document. After numerous meetings and
debates this draft Policy was published in December 2010 before being
finalised and adopted by the Council in February 2011.
The Policy was drafted with the purpose of focusing on initial teacher
education,
induction
and
early
and
continuing
professional
development. The main goal is to ensure that tomorrows teachers are
competent to meet the challenges that they face and are life-long
learners, continually adapting over the course of their careers to enable
them to support the students learning (Teaching Council of Ireland,
2011). With the development of Teacher Education being the core of the
Policy, the Council set out to support teachers throughout their careers
rather than solely for their initial teacher training. The Policy focuses on
Innovation, Integration and Improvement (known as the three Is).
With an increase in the number of children with additional needs and
multiculturalism in our mainstream schools, the expectations of
teachers has
become further demanding. By establishing a Policy on the Continuum
for Teacher Education, the Teaching Council have given Teachers a
framework to address these demands. With the introduction of CPD
(Continual Professional Development), teachers are required to
participate in those developments and have more opportunity to

enhance their skills in order to adapt to change(s) in the classroom.

The introduction of this Policy concludes that all registered teachers
must engage in Continual Professional Development throughout their
careers to provide adequate support for an increasingly diverse society.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

I consider The Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers and The Policy
on the Continuum of Teacher Education as equally important. The main
objective of both policies is to ensure that teachers are competent in
delivering a learning environment for their students in a professional
manner. In order to achieve this all teachers must be proficient in
adapting to everyday change, not only in education, but life in general.
To achieve such goals it is essential that teachers are upskilled and are
capable of progressing and adapting to change in the school
environment. For example, the use of Solidworks in the classroom is
relatively new in the Irish education system. For those who are in the
teaching profession for many years it was necessary to continue with
their professional development in this area to ensure their competency
to teach this programme. For Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in the
related subjects, this would have been included in their Initial Teacher
Education. This reveals a situation where the Policy on the Continuum
of Teacher Education is valuable for an existing teacher that may have
abstained from such technologies throughout their careers. This is when
it becomes evident that there is always new learning within the
profession.
A worthy teacher is not only characterised as one that retains the ability
to teach a topic. To be an influential and effective teacher one must be
capable of adapting to different situations and issues on a daily basis.
The demands of teaching do not revolve around one dexterity but a
whole variety of skills. Bullying is a common occurrence in every school,
so how is a teacher supposed to combat this?
The PDST anti-bullying support material is intended to be used by
schools to
assist them in the implementation of the Department of Education and
Skills
Anti-Bullying Procedure for Primary and Post-Primary schools
(Department of Education and Skills). CPD programmes like this are
crucial to teachers. It

enables them to take a holistic approach and ensures that they are
proficient in supporting students through difficult times.
On critical reflection, the implementation of this framework is time
consuming. Teachers are expected to engage in CPD in their own time.
As teachers now have a much heavier workload than in previous years
this is cause for concern.
There are a wide variety of CPD courses available that are intended for
the teaching profession. Much of the stress that arises in teaching, is
influenced by our emotional state. Teachers often become too caught up
in student misbehaviour and allow themselves get drawn into
situations (Kennedy, Sean O' Flynn and Harry, 2000). This is where the
need for CPD may arise for a teacher in this situation. Cosn is a new
framework that allows teachers to select a range of priority learning
activities. This framework supports teachers in planning professional
learning by taking into account changing priorities and the needs of
students (Teaching Council of Ireland, 2015). The key strengths of this
policy are that it enforces teachers to improve and progress with the aid
of many available CPD programmes. I believe that having such policies
in place will provide opportunity and ensure that all teachers remain
upskilled throughout their careers.
The Continuum of Teacher Education Policy is well structured as it
outlines its guiding principles and it elaborates on Initial Teacher
Education, Induction and Continuing Professional Development.
Relative to the policy, I read an article from The Guardian website and
noticed the following scenario whereby:
"You identify an issue you want to tackle, and you research it as a
group, evaluating the materials you normally use. You design a
lesson and one of you teaches it, while the others watch very
carefully to see how the children are responding (Williams, 2013).
The key words from this are Identify, Research and Evaluate. This is
precisely what we must do as teachers throughout our careers in order
to continually develop in whatever areas need to be strengthened. The
idea of one individual teaching under the new developments whilst the
rest observe may also be beneficial so that we can evaluate the
outcome.
As stated in the 2005 OECD report Teachers Matter, teachers
themselves need to be actively involved in policy development and
implementation and feel a sense of ownership and reform (OECD
2005). This is something
that I think any draft would benefit from as the people that implement
change will be motivated knowing that they have some input in the

potential outcomes.
3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Department of Education and Skills. (n.d.). Professional Development Service for

Teachers. Retrieved from www.pdst.ie: http://www.pdst.ie/publications
Kennedy, Sean O' Flynn and Harry. (2000). Conflict and Confrontation in the
Classroom. (5th, Ed.) Co. Cork, Munster, Ireland: Paradigm Press.
OECD. (2005). Teachers Matter, Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective
Teachers. Pointers for Policy Development. European Commission.
Teaching Council of Ireland. (2011, 06). Policy on the Continuum of Teacher
Education.
Teaching Council of Ireland. (2015). Cosn Draft Framework for Teachers
Learning. Dublin.
Williams, M. (2013, 10 08). Professional development: what can Brits learn from
schools abroad? Retrieved 10 12, 2015, from www.thegaurdian.com:
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacherblog/2013/oct/08/professional-development-learn-schools-abroad