A Consideration of Language Teacher Education in Ireland, North and South

This paper surveys the context of language teacher education in Ireland, north and south, across the sectors (primary and post-primary, Irish, Modern Languages and English as an Additional Language). The discussion and analysis that follows arose through the contributions by language teacher educators to a conference organised by the Queen’s University of Belfast under the auspices of the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS)1. The authors suggest that a traditional view of diversification in language education, focusing on Irish and the main European languages, must be reconsidered in light of the new demographic and linguistic landscape of Ireland, North and South.