Diversity in initial teacher education in Ireland: the socio-demographic backgrounds of postgraduate post-primary entrants in 2013 and 2014

The homogeneity of the teaching profession is an international phenomenon; teaching bodies are generally from majority-group backgrounds, frequently in contrast to student populations. Research in Ireland suggests a similar situation, yet we lack adequate data describing our national context. Diversifying the teaching population is an international policy concern, and in Ireland, a number of policy recommendations have been suggested. In this context, we provide a rationale for the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) in Ireland national research project, which examines the socio-demographic backgrounds, diversity experiences, and career motivations of applicants and entrants to undergraduate and postgraduate primary and post-primary ITE programmes, using an anonymous and voluntary online questionnaire. Following a review of the literature, we provide an overview of the study's methodology. We then present findings on the socio-demographic profile (including sex, age, socio-economic group, nationality/ies, ethnicity, and disability) of our 2013 and 2014 samples of postgraduate post-primary ITE entrants to Ireland's seven universities, our focus for this paper. We discuss changes in the profile of these ITE entrants from 2013 to 2014, and relative to previous research. Finally, we outline the next steps for the DITE project.