The Conservative Party’s Northern Ireland education spokesperson, Mae Burke, has described training teachers in separate “essentially apartheid” and a “waste of money”.
“Stranmillis University College and St Mary’s University College should have either merged or been integrated into one our local universities years ago”, Mae continued. “The government has been keeping them artificially afloat by awarding the small institution premium – making them the most expensive teacher education institutions in the UK. At last the DEL minister has committed to remove this additional and unjustifiable allowance – unjustifiable because too many teachers are being trained in Northern Ireland with fewer than 20% gaining employment after four years of study.”
“NI Conservatives now urge Stephen Farry to remove the wastefulness in teacher education once and for all. We have only to look across the water for a different model, where all teacher education is integrated into universities. The educational and social benefits of integrating teacher education would give our young people a ‘world-class’ educational experience with critical mass and the very best of resources.”