An examination of pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of development education into Irish post-primary schools

As part of an undergraduate concurrent initial teacher education programme pre-service teachers participate in an education module consisting of a number of workshops relating to the integration of development education active learning methodologies into their teaching. Following completion of the module, pre-service teachers participate in a 12-week teaching practice placement. This study, based on questionnaires and focus group data, was conducted following their return from teaching practice and examines their attitudes towards development education, the extent to which they included development education issues in their teaching while on teaching practice and their attitudes towards including such issues in the future. Results indicate that while pre-service teachers were positive towards integrating development education into post-primary schools and indicated their hope to include such issues in the future, they face a number of barriers that prevent them from doing so. As they begin their teaching career, the integration of development education is not viewed as a major priority for these pre-service teachers.