college offering ITE for primary-level teachers and affiliated to Trinity College,
agreed to merge with Maynooth University (MU) which offers second-level and
adult teacher education programmes. Froebel began the process of transitioning its
programmes to MU in September 2011 and its staff and students are now full
members of the MU community. Following the publication of the Sahlberg Report
four Dublin teacher education institutions agreed to amalgamate creating the DCU
Incorporation. Following an intensive two-year planning process, St Patrick’s
College Drumcondra (primary, Catholic college), the Church of Ireland College of
Education (primary, Anglican college), Mater Dei Institute (post-primary, Catholic
college) and Dublin City University (post-primary, civic university) merged to
establish an Institute of Education within Dublin City University in September
- Also in Dublin, Trinity College Dublin (post-graduate studies in education,
Anglican), Marino Institute of Education (primary, Catholic College), University
College Dublin (post-primary, civic) and the National College of Art and Design
(post-primary) have agreed to participate in the formation of a new Institute of
Education. Greater collaboration has been achieved between the School of
Education in University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology (art and
design education, post-primary), while a decision has been made to incorporate St
Angela’s College (home economics, post-primary, Catholic college) into NUI
Galway (post-primary, civic). This imposed integration is an example of direct
HEA involvement and has been the source of considerable disquiet for staff.
Mary Immaculate College (MIC, primary, Catholic college), the University of
Limerick (UL, post-primary, civic) and Limerick Institute of Technology (art and
design, post-primary, civic), identified by the Sahlberg Report as a‘Centre of
Excellence for Teacher Education’have collaborated to establish the National
Institute for Studies in Education (NISE); while retaining institutional autonomy,
this trans-sectoral and regional cluster, building on a decade of bottom-up rela-
tionship building within the Shannon Consortium, is committed to ensuring that
greater academic coherence is attained. While initially it was advocated that MIC
would merge with UL, this merger did not occur. Instead, MIC has retained its
autonomy and St Patrick’s College, Thurles (post-primary, Catholic), one of two
providers which was earmarked to be discontinued, was incorporated into MIC in
11.5 Conclusion
The lexicon of partnership in teacher education in Ireland has developed and
expanded over the lastfive years to reflect the increasingly complex array of
relationships between institutions involved in initial teacher education; discussions
of integration, incorporation, merger, alliance and clustering predominate where
teacher educators gather. In some instances these developments were initiated by
the actors themselves, who have invested significant time in the management of the
transitions, and form the basis for positive and enriching new contexts for teacher
11 Initial Teacher Education in Ireland—A Case Study 175