education; in others, the mandatory nature of the mergers and the inadequacy of the
time and opportunity to establish a shared vision for teacher education, suggests
that the process may be less than beneficial for all concerned.
Building partnership in Irish teacher education has assumed new and challenging
meanings in recent years; within the context of programmatic reforms, the exten-
sion of the relationship between initial teacher education providers and schools has
been mandated by the Teaching Council. While all providers have built strong
relationships with schools, the nature of the partnership now required by the
Council will take time and resources to establish. Recognising all cooperating
teachers in schools as‘teacher educators’and sharing ownership of the lifelong
‘teacher education project’, will require a significant mind-shift on the part of
teachers and teacher educators alike. Simultaneously, institutional partnership
required of teacher education providers challenges the institutional autonomy and
identity of teacher educators. Deconstructing a web of relationships and discon-
tinuing institutions which have persisted for decades is not a simple undertaking.
Merging institutions, irrespective of size, requires considerable planning and dia-
logue. Where these institutions have conflicting ethos or denominational identity,
these reforms challenge the core of the institutions and the integration process
requires depths of trust and confidence which demand time and commitment from
all involved. The impact of institutional change on the identity of teacher educators,
and its influence on the nature, content and approach to teacher education across the
state has yet to be seen. While undoubtedly these partnerships can provide new
energies and opportunities for all the actors involved, and may enable a new and
dynamic form of teacher education to develop, the policy of imposed‘partnership’
within and between institutions, be that university-schools in relation to school
placement, or university-higher education college, may have questionable outcomes
for Irish education.
Structural change in teacher education is commonplace internationally, even
where teachers’education seems to be world class (Sahlberg et al. 2012 , p. 7); the
merging of smaller colleges is deemed essential to create units capable of leading
research-based teacher education. The increased focus on facilitating theory and
practice within clinical settings is also evident. Developments in the Republic of
Ireland in many ways reflect the changes occurring elsewhere; however, set in a
context where policy and practice in ITE has remained stationary for many decades,
the level and rate of change is unprecedented. The increased state interest in and
surveillance of ITE through the work of the Teaching Council, at a time when all
higher education institutions have experienced significant reductions in state
funding, has further influenced the nature of change. While ambitious plans for the
future of ITE in Ireland have been made, the actuality of imposing radical reforms
to both the content and structure of teacher education with much reduced resources
does not augur well for these developments. Without adequate investment in our
relationships with schools and with partner institutions, delivering real and
authentic partnership is severely challenged.
176 T. O’Doherty and J. Harford