Placement commences on North-South Student Teacher Exchange

The 2008-2009 North-South Student Teacher Exchange project Phase III will involve 20 students from seven colleges of primary education: Stranmillis University College and St Mary’s University College in Belfast; St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Church of Ireland College of Education, Coláiste Mhuire Marino and Froebel College of Education, all in Dublin, and Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. The aim of this project, which began in 2002-2003, is to create a cohort of young teachers, North and South, who have had experience of working in schools in the other jurisdiction as part of their teaching practice, and will thus be able to influence future generations of pupils in prejudice reduction and greater mutual understanding, both vital for long-term peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland.

2009 will bring to 123 the number of student teachers who have participated in the exchange. This year’s exchange is being funded by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS) which has taken over from the EU Peace Two programme. A longitudinal study of the first five years of the programme (2002-2007), and its impact on the personal attitudes and professional practices of the participating students, by Dr Maeve Martin of NUI Maynooth, was published in October 2008 (see www.crossborder.ie/cbnews/ste-study.php).