General Teaching Council Northern Ireland

Bursaries for teacher professional development

The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) has just announced a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Bursary funding programme available during 2010-11.

The funding will be made available to individual teachers wishing to undertake professional activities relating to the NI Curriculum. The programme has been running successfully for five years and as with previous bursary programmes an emphasis is being placed on teacher professional development relating to improvement in teaching and learning for pupils.

The Registrar of GTCNI, Eddie McArdle commented:

“The bursary offers the opportunity for teachers to gain professional experiences that are not otherwise immediately available to them. All of the previous participants have spoken enthusiastically about the ‘professional space’ afforded by the bursary and testified the benefits of the experience, not only through confidence gained while undertaking the projects, but to the pupils too”.

The range of previous bursary projects have included the development of skills in new ICT applications and software, skills in using interactive whiteboards and expertise in e-learning.

The application form and notes are available for download from the GTCNI website. The closing date for applications is Monday 1st March 2010 and the activity period runs from 5th April 2010 – 1st March 2011