Intake quotas for teacher colleges cut

Press, 7 October 1980, Page 6

Intake quotas for teacher colleges cut

PA Wellington! Intake quotas for 19SI { teacher-training courses, announced by the Minister of 1 Education (Mr Wellington)! yesterday, are less than this year’s. While in some categories the quotas remain constant, intakes for kindergarten- ; teacher trainees. teacher-' trainee studentships and! places in specialist courses ! are down. The approved quotas are:) 150 students to be trained as) kindergarten teachers d 60 [ this year); 1600 for primary' training (1600 .this year);; 1200 for secondary teacher.; training courses (1200); 8501 full-time studentships for; primary and secondary; trainees (935), within which; there is a Division U utiota; of 560 (600); and 62 places; in specialist courses for deaf! and handicapped children (58). . ; “The quota levels, deter-! mined after talks with nat-'l ional organisations, take!: account of the forecasts of; teacher supply and demand! in the coming years and ex-; pected roll movements,” Mr 1 Wellington said. 1

it “They indicate the Govijemment’s commitment to ■ i maintaining a realistic level l‘of training positions to )lensure that sufficient trained ; teachers will be available to i meet, the foreseeable needs ; of our schools,” he said. I , “The secondary area this! [year saw a significant in-' ! crease in quota levels. With; I [the new quotas we are hold-; ling the line. The primary; I quota for next year (1600)1 i shows that the Government ;jis committed to maintaining ■the strength of the primary !service in the face of declin-i ; ing rolls,” said Mr Welling-; item. i He also said that the; ; teacher recruitment cam-! ipaign had been intensified; phis year and, with the ex-; Iception of courses involving; l full-rime university study. ! applications increased. He fl xoected most ouotas to be : filled without difficulty. ! Discussions would be held;’ between the Education De-,6 joartment and the Education!; ■ Boards’ Association to deter-u mine the allocation of prim-L ary. quotas on a district -t basis, Mr Wellington said. !i