asked the Minister for Education whether he proposes to accept teaching experience in Britain for salary and incremental purposes; and, if not, why.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Recognition of Teaching Service in Britain.
33.
The reply is no. I am satisfied that on balance this country would lose far more than it would gain by such an arrangement.
Is it not a fact that the Minister does accept for incremental purposes a year spent in teaching in Nigeria or any other of these African countries?
I have explained this matter on several occasions. The acceptance for incremental purposes of teaching service in these countries is a concession to these countries to enable them to get teachers.
Have we no shortage of teachers?
No.
For technical schools?
I am dealing with that problem at the moment. On balance, I feel that taking this step would encourage people to go abroad and we might not get back the best of them. It might be that we would get back the rejects of another system.
If people do go abroad, is it not an advantage to them to go to advanced countries where they will learn new teaching techniques so that they can bring back the advantage of those techniques to our educational system? Would the Minister not agree to accept years spent in teaching in advanced countries for incremental purposes?
I am trying to explain why we give these concessions to the emergent countries and I do not accept the implication that teachers going to Britain would bring back techniques that would be of advantage to this country. Neither do I accept that the balance of the flow both ways would be in our favour. If a man puts down roots in other countries, he is unlikely to come back here.