There is no future for the teaching colleges at Stranmillis and St Mary’s, if they do not amalgamate, according to Conservative education spokesperson and former Stranmillis College vice principal, Mae Burke.
“The best solution for Northern Ireland would be a single, world class institute of teacher education”, Mae explained. “Rather than having training at Queen’s University, the University of Ulster, Stranmillis and St Mary’s, we could have one institution that was able to attract the best lecturers and researchers and could contribute ground-breaking international research. That’s what our aspiring teachers deserve. However, it is absolutely clear that, in the current financial climate, Northern Ireland cannot support 5 institutions training teachers, if we count the Open University.”
“St Mary’s and Stranmillis have been given special dispensation in recent years, receiving an extra £1 million premia for small colleges. The institutions have been allowed to take in extra students, in order to keep afloat, with the result that we are turning out huge numbers graduates with no prospect of a job in education. Less than 20% of graduates are finding full-time employment in Northern Ireland as teachers.”
“We also have to ask whether we want to continue to train teachers, who will go on to shape our young people, in a segregated environment. St Mary’s has a tiny number of non-Catholic students and Protestant students who graduate from Stranmillis struggle to find employment in Catholic Maintained schools. The current situation is unsustainable and, unless St Mary’s wishes to fund itself, the common sense solution is to amalgamate the colleges. Otherwise neither has a hopeful future, for the long-term”