|
|
Carn woman takes kindergarten to
university
29.04.10
A CARNDONAGH woman is
leading the drive to bring kindergarten and primary
teacher training into the university setting.
Marie McLoughlin, who is president of Froebel
College of Education, Blackrock, Dublin has just
signed off on plans to move the institution into NUI
Maynooth.
The deal will mean the establishment of a Froebel
Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education
at the university.
Froebel College of Education was established by the
Dominican Sisters in 1943 and is currently based at
Sion Hill, Blackrock. It is one of the five primary
teacher education colleges in the State and is named
after Friedrich Froebel. Froebel founded the
kindergarten movement with its emphasis on the
belief that children learn through play and
activity.
Marie McLoughlin was educated at Carndonagh
Community School. She qualified as a primary teacher
from Carysfort College of Education and taught in a
number of schools before joining the Primary
Curriculum Support Programme in 2000.
She said her college's move to NUI Maynooth, to be
completed by 2013, represented an exciting new
departure. |
 |
“This will be the first
occasion in which primary teacher education will be
entirely carried out on a university campus," said
the Carn woman.
"This initiative establishes a new model of primary
teacher education, which combines the rich tradition
of Froebel with the multi-disciplinary opportunities
which can only be obtained on a university campus.
"Furthermore, students will gain a greatly enriched
academic and social experience on a campus of 8,000
students, while still retaining their identity
within a newly designated Froebel Department of
Early Childhood and Primary Education."
The link-up will also mean that NUI Maynooth will be
the only Irish university offering the full spectrum
of teacher education on campus – from primary and
secondary, through to adult and community.
The university's president, Professor John Hughes
said he was delighted with the collaboration.
“It is an ideal match. Froebel has developed an
outstanding reputation for its unique, high quality
approach to teacher education over the last 67
years. NUI Maynooth is also renowned for excellence
in this area and Froebel will complement and enhance
the full teacher education facility we offer," he
said.
The current CAO applicants to Froebel College of
Education for September 2010 will be the first
students who, on completion of their degree, will be
NUI Maynooth graduates. This year’s applicants will
undertake their first three years’ study in
Blackrock, moving in their fourth year to a
state-of-the-art facility on campus at NUI Maynooth
in 2013. |
|
