1. Introduction to the collaborative professional learning bursary
This bursary serves two key purposes:
- Building Collaborative Professional Communities: The bursary is designed to support the creation and sustainability of professional learning communities.
- Promoting the Teaching Profession: Each bursary recipient will be required to create a digital asset that showcases their professional learning activities, which will be used to promote the teaching profession more broadly.
2. Eligible activities
Schools may use this bursary to collaborate with other schools to organise, and host professional learning activities.
The activities must align with one or more of the following areas:
Forming professional learning communities: Collaborate with other schools to form professional learning communities around shared educational interests.
Hosting workshops/events: Bring teachers together from different schools to share best practices and learn from each other (e.g., a shared learning day).
Inviting speakers: Arrange for a speaker to deliver an information session or workshop to teachers.
Joint professional development events/programmes: Collaborate with other schools to organise a professional development event or programme on topics relevant to the schools e.g. universal design for learning, technology in education, or restorative practice.
Organising a lesson study: Partner with other schools to conduct a lesson study, where teachers collaboratively plan, observe, and analyse teaching and learning.
3. Application themes
Your application must be based on at least one of the following themes:
Inclusive practice
Teaching of Gaeilge
Leadership and professional relationships
Wellbeing
Alignment with a named Teaching Council policy or Department of Education policy or strategy e.g. Céim, Cosán, Droichead, SSE (Looking at our Schools).
4. Funding details
The bursary offers three bands of funding, depending on the number of schools involved in the collaboration, as outlined below:
- Band 1: €2,000 – Professional learning activities involving two schools
- Band 2: €3,000 – Cross-sectoral professional learning activities involving two or more schools
- Band 3: €5,000 – Cross-sectoral professional learning activities involving three or more schools
Cross-sectoral is defined as a mix of primary, post-primary, or further education settings.
The full bursary payment will be made to the lead school in the collaboration, who will manage the funds among the participating schools as appropriate.
Schools may only be involved or named in one bursary application.
Should a school be named on more than one application, only the first application received will be considered.
5. Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for the bursary, applications must submit evidence for all of the following criteria:
Collaboration: Applications must show evidence of collaboration with at least one other recognised school or college of further education, with a roll number.
In addition to this, collaboration is also encouraged with your local education support centre, higher education institution or centre of education such as a Youthreach setting.
Applicant: The applicant must be a registered teacher applying on behalf of the lead school. If you are not working in a school (e.g. due to secondment, retiring etc.) you must partner with a lead school in order to participate in the bursary scheme.
Lead School: A lead school is a school recognised by the Department of Education or a college of further education, with a roll number.
Details of the lead school and collaborating school(s): To administer the bursary, we will need the details of the lead school, and each collaborating school.
Budget and Timeline: A clear, realistic budget breakdown for using the funds before July 2025.
Consent from collaborating schools: Consent for the application must be sought from the Principal, Deputy Principal or equivalent of all collaborating schools before the application is submitted. Please note, a final internal check will be conducted by Teaching Council staff to confirm the awareness and support of school leadership and/or collaborating schools before the bursary is awarded.
Description of professional learning activities: A detailed description of the proposed activities that align with the eligible activities and themes listed in the guidelines.
Impact: Clear aims and objectives regarding the impact of the proposed activities on the professional learning of staff and schools involved.
Digital asset: Agreement to submit a digital asset as outlined in your application.
6. Digital asset requirement
To promote teaching as a profession, each bursary recipient must create a digital asset showcasing their activity or the outcome of their activity. These digital assets can take the form of:
- a number of photographs showcasing the professional learning activities in action,
- a poster,
- a digital artefact (e.g., a T-REX byte or a Padlet),
- a video reflection (e.g., an audio or video reflection on how the school benefited from the bursary).
These digital assets must be shared with us before July 2025.
They will be collated, developed, and used to promote the teaching profession among teachers and the wider public.
The digital assets may be placed on our website and social media channel in order to promote professional collaboration and to showcase the teaching profession more broadly.
With the school’s permission, the Teaching Council may arrange for a photographer to visit some successful schools to create additional digital assets.
Names of those captured in the digital asset should not be submitted. No images of minors or vulnerable adults should be submitted.
It is the responsibility of each school to ensure that all individuals captured are made aware of the use of the footage so that they can decide not to participate if they wish.
7. Additional requirements
In addition to a digital asset, bursary recipients must submit the following before July 2025:
- a short written reflection on your experience and the impact of the professional learning activities,
- a feedback survey which will be issued to all successful bursary recipients,
- a budget overview outlining how the bursary was spent.
8. Scoring rubric
Applications will be scored against the following criteria once they have passed an eligibility check:
| Criteria | Max Points | Evaluation Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Level of collaboration | 30 | Involvement of multiple schools, HEIs, education support centres or centres of education such as a Youthreach setting. Higher scores for wider or cross-sectoral collaboration. |
| Impact on professional learning | 30 | Clearly defined objectives with significant and measurable impact on professional learning across schools, and evidence of shared learning. |
| Relevance to themes and policies | 15 | Strong alignment with chosen themes (Inclusive practice, Teaching of Gaeilge, Wellbeing, Leadership and Professional Relationships) or named national policy (e.g. from the Teaching Council or Department of Education). |
| Quality of digital asset proposal | 15 | Innovative, creative, and practical proposal for creating a digital asset showcasing the activity for wider promotion. |
| Realistic budget breakdown | 10 | Transparent, realistic, and well-justified budget breakdown. |
9. Evaluation process
Applications will be evaluated as follows:
| Stage | |
|---|---|
| Screening | All applications will be screened against the eligibility criteria outlined in Section 5. |
| Scoring | Eligible applications will be scored by an independent assessment panel, appointed by the Director of the Teaching Council. |
Funding distribution: Funding will be distributed to ensure at least one school in every province is funded
Feedback: Applicants may request feedback within three weeks of being notified of the outcome.
10. Timeline
| Date | Schedule |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, 16 October | Applications open. |
| 6pm on Friday, 6 December | Applications close. |
| Late January 2025 | Schools notified of results. |
| Early February 2025 | Schools paid. |
| 6pm on Tuesday, 01 July 2025 | Deadline to submit digital assets, written reflection, feedback survey, and budget overview. |
11. Payment
The bursary will be paid into the bank account of the lead school in early February 2025. It is the responsibility of the lead school to manage the bursary payment in accordance with the application submitted, and amongst the collaborating schools, as appropriate.
We will be in contact in late January 2025 to arrange payment.
12. Appeals process
If you wish to appeal the decision, you must submit a formal written appeal to the Director of the Teaching Council within 10 working days of receiving the outcome. Please send the appeal to feilte@teachingcouncil.ie
The appeal must clearly outline the grounds for appeal, which should be based on procedural errors or perceived inconsistencies in the assessment process.
| Appeals Process | |
|---|---|
| Review of Appeal | The appeal will be reviewed by an Appeals Panel, comprising of assessors who were not involved in the original decision-making process. The panel will be nominated by the Director. The panel will assess whether the application process and scoring criteria were followed correctly and fairly. |
| Outcome of Appeal | The Appeals Panel will aim to reach a decision within 15 working days of receiving the appeal. The final decision will be communicated to you via email. This decision will be final and binding. |
| No new information | Appeals will not be considered if based on new information or revisions to the original application. Appeals can only address procedural fairness or assessment issues. |
| Appeals outcome | If your appeal is upheld, your application will be reconsidered. If your appeal is denied, the original decision will stand. |
13. How to Apply
Applications have now closed.
15. Data Protection
The Teaching Council is the Data Controller. The data collected in the application process e.g. names and contact details of school Principals or equivalent are used to administer the bursary applications. Digital assets submitted as part of the bursary scheme are used to promote teaching as a profession.
Our lawful basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest to promote teaching as a profession in accordance with our obligations under the Teaching Council Act 2001, as amended.
As detailed above, the digital assets will be shared on the Teaching Council website and social media accounts as well as distributed to all registered teachers. Digital assets will be retained for 36 months for the purposes of effectiveness reviews and then securely destroyed.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) individuals have a number of rights with regard to their personal data. They have the right to request from us:
- access to their personal data,
- rectification of their personal data where it is incorrect,
- erasure of their personal data in certain circumstances,
- the right to restrict processing or object to processing in certain circumstances.
You can contact our DPO at dpo@teachingcouncil.ie
You have the right to lodge a complaint to the Data Protection Commission if you believe that we have not complied with the requirements of the GDPR or DPA 18 with regard to your personal data.
16. Contact Information
For any questions or additional information, please contact us at feilte@teachingcouncil.ie