Want to become a teacher? New Institute for Teacher Education in the West of Ireland
NUI Galway, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and St Angela’s College Sligo are delighted to announce the foundation of the Western Institute for Studies in Education, which will support collaboration among the three institutions to enhance and promote teacher education in the Western Region.
The Western Institute for Studies in Education will enable the three institutions, leaders nationally and internationally in teacher education, to bring together their diverse but complementary expertise.
The ambition is to develop courses, research and public engagement in teacher education. In this way, the Western Institute for Studies in Education will significantly help to consolidate and raise the profile of teacher education in the region. The Institute will provide an innovative virtual platform to support collaboration and nurture engagement with a range of stakeholders involved in teacher education in the region and will be formally launched in September 2021.
Minister for Education, Norma Foley T.D. said: “This new institute is a very welcome development that will consolidate this centre of excellence for initial teacher education in the West/North-West region.”
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris T.D., said: “This is a really exciting partnership between three of our colleges. WISE aims to create a Centre of Excellence that will serve to strengthen the collective expertise of three teacher education providers in NUI Galway, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and St. Angela’s College Sligo. The establishment of the Institute will aim to future proof teacher education provision, including in the context of the potential emergence of a technological university in the West/ North West such as is proposed by the Connacht Ulster Alliance of GMIT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT, by bringing together the teacher education providers in the region. I want to offer my congratulations to all involved.”
Welcoming the establishment, Amanda McCloat, President of St Angela’s College, said: “This Institute builds on the excellent national and international reputation and close working relationship of NUI Galway, St Angela’s College and GMIT and collectively will serve to enhance teacher education provision and research.”