I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, to the House and ask him to proceed when he is ready.
Teaching Council of Ireland: Statements
I thank the Seanad for the opportunity to discuss the Teaching Council. I am aware that many Senators are teachers. We know from several international studies that teacher quality is the critical factor in improving educational outcomes. The role of a regulatory body in enhancing teacher quality is, therefore, a valuable area for public discussion. In light of the recent enactment of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 and my recent proposals to enhance the "fitness to practice" element of that legislation, this debate is particularly timely.
Let us turn to the background of this situation and the question of what the Teaching Council is. The council was established in March 2006 after the passage of the 2001 Act. It is charged with regulating the teaching profession and the professional conduct of teachers; establishing and promoting standards of teacher education, the knowledge and competence required of teachers and their professional conduct; and promoting continuing professional development for teachers. The council comprises 37 members, of whom 22 are either directly elected teachers or nominated by teacher trade unions. The council is a key agency in supporting my Department's strategic objectives and in contributing to the Government's education programme. In particular, the council's work advances Government priorities in respect of recruiting, training and supporting the highest calibre of teachers and as a driver for the reform of teacher education.
Ireland has been fortunate in the quality of its teachers. This is due in no small measure to the supportive role of the State in teacher education. It is accepted that education is a public good. The State, through the Government, the profession itself and the Teaching Council, recognises and accepts responsibility for the ongoing development of teachers as life-long learners supporting their students.
Full implementation of the Teaching Council Act will support a cohesive framework of teacher education, professionalism and registration based on quality inputs across the whole continuum of teacher education. I plan to commence the critically important remaining sections within the next two years.
I will now deal with what we are trying to achieve, namely, a regulated profession. I recently signed the commencement orders giving effect to section 30 of the Teaching Council Act and related regulations. This is a historic time. For the first time in the history of the State, to be paid from State funds all teachers working in recognised schools must since 28 January last be registered with the Teaching Council. When I say "recognised schools" I am speaking of 99.9% of all primary and secondary schools in this State. This has been a long time coming. In truth, far too long.
It is no mean achievement that there are now 87,000 teachers on the Teaching Council's register. I take this opportunity to put on record my appreciation of the efforts made by the council and its staff to process the large volumes of applications in the lead-in period. The co-operation of the Garda Central Vetting Unit and the teachers' payroll section of my Department and the Education and Training Boards of Ireland, ETBI, should also be acknowledged. This move also paves the way for the commencement of the remaining functions of the council as provided for in the Act, which relate to fitness to teach and professional development.
It is essential that there is a robust system of regulation in place for the teaching profession. The role of the Teaching Council is key to ensuring the development and implementation of standards for teachers' conduct and performance, which complements the work of initial and continuing teacher training. Much progress has been made by the council as reports placed before the Houses illustrate. The setting of fees, while subject to ministerial consent, is a matter for the council in the first instance. The current initial registration fee of €90 is significantly lower than registration fees charged by many other professional regulatory bodies. The council has reduced its renewal fee to €65 per annum.
Entry to the Teaching Council register is governed by a cohesive and coherent set of regulations which set out the qualifications required to become a recognised teacher. The council is currently working on revising these regulations to reflect recent developments, such as changes to the entry criteria for certain programmes of initial teacher education and changes to the council's legislation with regard to registration renewal. Along with the qualifications requirements, the council has in place a robust professional standards framework to ensure appropriate standards of competence and conduct throughout a teacher's career. Given the education system reaches into virtually every home in the country, and affects so many so deeply, it is crucial that the teaching profession's value system and professional standards are clear for all.
The code of professional conduct for teachers sets out standards of professional knowledge, skill, competence and conduct which reflect the complexity and variety of teaching. It covers areas such as communication and relationships, equality and inclusion, compliance with national and school policies, professional development and pupil-student welfare. The standards are underpinned by the four core values of respect, care, integrity and trust. Teachers are required to know and uphold the core values and professional commitments which are set out in the code.
As Members of this House will be aware, I recently announced the Government's intention to publish legislation which will amend the fitness to teach provisions of the 2001 Act to bring them into line with current practice in the regulatory area. It is clear from the reaction to that announcement that there will be intense interest in this area. Fitness to teach will be about reassuring the public and the profession, by dealing with cases where a complaint has been made about a teacher's professional misconduct, poor practice, or with cases where medical fitness impacts on a teacher's ability to teach. It will do this in the cases of teachers who are found to be falling short of the required standard by finding ways of helping them to address difficulties. This will be done with the aim of improving the quality of teaching and learning for pupils and teachers alike. In serious cases, where a teacher does not demonstrate a capacity or willingness to improve, or the subject matter of the complaint is deemed to be sufficiently serious, suspension or removal from the register will be an available sanction. It is important to note that the Teaching Council's fitness to teach role will not replace the responsibility at school level in the first instance for the resolution of complaints. The council will have the power to hear a complaint where it believes the case so warrants.
Protection of pupils-students attending our schools is a major priority of the Government and my Department. Since the introduction in September 2006 of the arrangements for Garda vetting of school staff, the Teaching Council has undertaken a very important role in the vetting arrangements for teachers. The National Vetting Bureau Act, when commenced later this year, will place the vetting of persons working with children or vulnerable adults, including teachers, on a statutory basis. My Department is currently engaging with the Department of Justice and Equality and the Office of the Attorney General in relation to the implementation of the Act in the education sector. I also intend to bring forward Teaching Council legislation that will underpin the central role of the council in the vetting of teachers.
I will deal now with initial teacher education, ITE, which is the training of our teachers at primary and second level. If we are serious about maintaining and enhancing the calibre of people who are entering the profession of teaching, we must look at the entry criteria for initial teacher education. I have asked the Teaching Council for advice on the requirements for entry to programmes of teacher education. The council carried out consultation in this area and research has also been commissioned. In the interim, the council has produced a new set of criteria for registration on the basis of qualifications in post-primary subjects from 2017 onward. The lead-in time and related communications are particularly important for students entering first and second year of their degrees as they will need to ensure that they choose the right modules if they wish to pursue a career in teaching. The State has also made a conscious policy choice to ensure that ITE is research-informed and based in third level institutions. This is in keeping with the best practices of education systems of other countries held in high regard. While the council is not directly involved in implementing this policy its work will be supported by the restructuring currently under way. This reform process is designed to ensure that programmes have explicit and clearly articulated sets of values underpinning them and that students are ready to meet the expected learning outcomes established by the council. This is but one step in a process of empowering teachers to empower learners to meet the unknown challenges of the century to come. The first graduates of reconceptualised programmes will emerge in 2016.
It is also worth noting that within the last 18 months, the provisions of the Teaching Council Act relating to its powers to set down the procedures for the induction and probation of new teachers have been commenced. Initial teacher education is only one phase in what we hope will be a lifelong career for teachers. Currently, the Teaching Council's pilot programme for induction and probation of newly qualified teachers, Droichead, is being implemented in over 50 schools, with this number is expected to increase. This pilot is important. It is about enhancing the quality of teaching beyond the period of initial teacher education. It is about embedding ways of thinking, reflecting and improving that should stand to teachers for the rest of their careers. It is about empowering teachers, within supportive school communities, to lead their own process of professional induction and development.
Engagement in ongoing continuous professional development is a key hallmark of any profession. Put simply, teachers should always learn so that they can always teach. This function of the Act has yet to be commenced but I intend to commence it during the lifetime of this Government.
In the meantime it is heartening to know we have a strong culture of teachers engaging in self-directed CPD and that this is growing. My Department also makes significant investment in CPD in a wide range of areas. Current priorities include literacy and numeracy, school self-evaluation, special education, wellbeing and curricular reform including the junior cycle.
Regulating the profession, improving professional standards and encouraging professional learning among teachers are three of the primary functions of the Teaching Council of Ireland. The council also works hard to promote teaching as a profession and to promote quality standards in teaching. The council is keen to expand its role and the ways in which it reaches out to teachers.
A particular case in point is FÉILTE, the Festival of Education in Learning and Teaching Excellence, which the council held to mark World Teachers' Day last October. Teachers from all over the country came to Dublin, in their own time, to showcase their work in teaching and learning, to share it with their peers, and to learn from their peers. It was a resounding success. Planning is already under way for the next FÉILTE, where it is intended to have increased capacity for teachers to attend and to open it to the public.
In order to support the process of lifelong learning for teachers, research is and will continue to be critical. The council has been co-operating closely with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Centre for Effective Services on an initiative called Research Alive! This will enhance connections between teachers, research and researchers in ways that make a real difference to the quality of teaching in our schools.
Teachers have called for more access to research and the council has provided all registered teachers with free access to the EBSCO education collection of online research. The council also hopes to reactivate soon its research bursary scheme for action research in classrooms.
I have also asked the council to provide me with advice on the matter of teacher supply. It is important that those considering embarking on a teaching career are aware of likely opportunities or limitations. The council has been liaising closely with the officials in my Department. We have no policy of measuring the labour market requirements for teachers coming into the system. In addition we have no say over what kinds of teachers come out of the initial teacher education system. For example, we do not have the ability - although it would be my intention to have it - to identify that we have a shortage of STEM teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
We cannot prescribe the priorities we would like to give the colleges. We simply do not know and we take whatever teachers come out of the system. Senators will recall that until very recently we did not even know how many qualified mathematics teachers we had. That will change and I will be very interested to hear Members' comments on that. We have more than 800,000 young people in the primary and post-primary system. Any sane rational system looking at such a fixed cohort of young students should look at what labour force we need and what skillsets we require from those people and how we should achieve those outcomes without being too intrusive.
Quality of teaching has been determined as a critical influential factor towards improving educational outcomes for students. The work of the council is focused on the maintenance and improvement of the teaching standards. Notwithstanding the progress made to date, there are challenges ahead, including the further inculcation of the professional culture of teachers. The council needs to become more relevant and meaningful to all teachers in their day-to-day work, putting into operation further functions including sound and robust fitness to teach procedures, and continuing professional development. I look forward to working with the council on these and other matters and to discussing these further with Members of the Seanad today.
I welcome the Minister to the House. As he has outlined, the Teaching Council of Ireland has a number of important functions, including to protect the standards of entry to the teaching profession; to advise the Minister on teacher supply; to promote teaching as a profession; to establish and maintain the register of teachers and to maintain and improve standards, professional practice and conduct.
In recent times there has been much discussion about the latter function since the Minister announced his intention to introduce legislation to give new powers to the Teaching Council of Ireland to deal with underperforming teachers, which I very much welcome. I believe it is good news that parents will have an accessible and independent body to decide on complaints and to impose appropriate sanctions. It is also good news for the majority of teachers who are good at their jobs. They have nothing about which to worry and can only gain from enhanced faith in the profession and its ability to deal with problems where they arise.
While we have only a few details in advance of the publication of the legislation, the Minister has indicated there will be a range of options or sanctions, which is appropriate. Until now the emphasis has been on dealing with problems when they become extreme and a decision needs to be made over whether a teacher is fit to be in the classroom at all. All of us in our professions can encounter difficulties from time to time that affect performance, and teaching is no different. People in all walks of life need to deal with personal difficulties such as bereavement or family and relationship issues that affect the quality of their work. It is appropriate that in addition to disciplinary procedures we should also have the availability of counselling, support and other services to help people work through those difficulties. Of course it will be also essential to have the right opportunities for people to reskill and to improve their teaching performance, and to ensure they are up to date with modern methods.
So far we like what we are hearing and we await the detail of the legislation. Perhaps the Minister can give more details in his concluding speech. He mentioned that the legislation is due to come before the Houses of the Oireachtas shortly. Will it be before the summer recess with the intention of having a system in place for the next school year or will more preparatory work be needed?
There was some disquiet about the public hearings. The INTO and ASTI have welcomed the initiative in general terms; the TUI has expressed concern about public hearings. I believe we need public hearings if people are to have faith in the process. It is not appropriate to have private discussions behind closed doors because there would not be public confidence in that. They also need to be structured to ensure there are fair procedures. I know the Minister has referred in the media and elsewhere to the Medical Council procedures and I ask him to outline more of the detail in that regard.
Getting away from the area of discipline, a key area that needs to be addressed is a broader performance management system for schools. The 2008 OECD report into post-primary teaching found that the percentage of teachers in Ireland who had received an appraisal of their teaching or feedback from a principal was the lowest of the 24 countries reviewed. We have never empowered principals to be educational leaders in the same way as managers in other professions. I know this has been an ongoing issue for the IPPN and the NAPD. They would like to see principals equipped with the time, resources and support to be real educational leaders and not just deal with administrative work or be worried about scheduling. They need to be able to support their staff as professionals and to give them feedback on their work. I hope the Minister will address that issue.
While I welcome the new system for dealing with underperformance, we should not just focus on that area. We need to introduce a system where teachers are appraised systematically throughout their careers. This would allow us not only to spot difficulties and have an early warning system for teachers in difficulty, but also to acknowledge and affirm good performance. In any working environment it is essential that people get affirmation when they are doing a good job. We need a more systematic and structured system for doing that. Affirmation is always a highly motivating factor for employees and teachers are no different from the rest of us. Everybody likes to get acknowledgement when he or she puts in the effort.
We call them elections.
That is true.
I welcome the developments that are taking place. As the Minister mentioned, the council also has an important function in teacher education.
The Minister adverted to several reforms that are under way. I urge the Minister to ensure sufficient resources are put in place to deliver on these reforms effectively because that aspect is crucial. We must ensure that teachers are given proper support at the initial teacher education stage but also in terms of continuous professional development throughout their careers. This should apply not only in their subjects, but also for all the challenges they face in the modern-day classroom. I appreciate that resources are tight but this is a critical area and I urge the Minister to ensure it is a priority. If we are to get out of the difficulties that we have as a country, then we must focus on education, and the quality of our teachers is important in this regard. However, they can only do as good a job as they are equipped to do. I urge the Minister to prioritise this area.
The Minister referred to teacher supply. Concerns have been raised by the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals in the past week about the serious shortage of teachers qualified to cope with increasing student levels at second level. The NAPD director, Clive Byrne, has predicted an increase of 15%. I realise the Department has been monitoring demographic data in recent years and has been tracking the increases coming through and planning for them. Mr. Byrne has highlighted the fact that currently there is no relevant data on the types of teachers who will be retiring in the coming years and the subjects they teach. The Minister has remarked on this absence as well. I appreciate that the Teaching Council is working on this at the moment and preparing advice for him and I urge the Minister to give this priority. I realise things have become a good deal better and that much work was done under the last Government and this Government on improving data. We cannot run any system, whether in education or anywhere else, without proper data and planning. I realise much work has been done but we must ensure we fix this part of the problem as well. If changes have to be made to teacher education and if we have to consider introducing reserve places for teachers in certain subjects, then that is what we need to do. We cannot simply assume that it will work out fine and that we will get enough. We cannot assume that without putting quotas in place for subjects in higher diploma in education training that we will get enough people coming out who are capable of teaching mathematics, science or other key subjects. It might not make everyone happy to have to examine this aspect of planning but we must get serious about finding the most effective system to ensure that we have properly qualified teachers across all subjects. We must plan not only for next year or five years' time, but for ten and 20 years' time in terms of where are the subject demands and priorities.
Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire ar ais go dtí an Seanad. Molaim é as an obair mhór atá á dhéanamh aige mar Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna. Tá mé ag smaoineamh go háirithe ar an méid reachtaíochta atá tugtha isteach aige. Tháinig an chuid is mó de anseo ar dtús. In particular, I wish the Minister every success in his work on the new junior cycle and the timely implementation of that programme, since he mentioned it in his statement. I realise the Minister has given increased resources in for in-service days. Anyone doing English will now get a total of 16 in-service days, a very welcome development.
The Teaching Council is a very important body. I am glad that I am a registered member of the Teaching Council. I am proud to be a member. I can go anywhere in the world with that membership card and get recognition. I was particularly careful to renew my registration when the Seanad was under threat.
Who was it under threat from?
Anyway, in a few years' time I will probably be hawking my wares again.
We will have a word with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, on behalf of the Senator.
Senator D'Arcy will be a Deputy at that stage.
Membership of the Teaching Council will be no burden to carry in that regard.
Two of my children are studying to be teachers at present. I hope, in time, they will become registered members of the Teaching Council. That would be a great achievement for them and a great passport in life.
The Teaching Council, established on a statutory basis in 2006, is a welcome and significant development in Irish education. Why do we have a teaching council? The Teaching Council exists to promote public confidence in the profession of teaching. The council is responsible for promoting standards in teaching in the interests of the public good. When we reflect on how important education is for an individual's life chances and well-being, it is clear that teachers play a vital role in society and that the highest standards in teaching are in everyone's interests.
As the Minister said some weeks ago, the profession reached an important milestone with the commencement of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act. Now, all teachers who are paid by the State must be registered. Now, over 87,000 teachers are registered. Teachers can rejoice in this because it sends an important message to parents and the public. Only those teachers who have reached specific standards can be registered and, therefore, be eligible for a salary from the State.
Equally important is the introduction of the Teaching Council disciplinary function, called fitness to teach. It is important that this system is fair to everyone involved. Teachers need to believe that the Teaching Council is supportive of the difficult and important task they perform from day to day and that the council will provide teachers with the necessary supports and ongoing training. The fitness to teach function is not about demonising teachers or replacing disciplinary procedures that already exist at a local level. It is about the Teaching Council investigating complaints that have exhausted all other avenues of resolution. It is about identifying issues of concern with respect to a teacher's professional practice and helping him to address those issues, a point well made by the Minister. It is about providing students, parents, fellow teachers and employers with a formal mechanism.
It is important that we see continual professional development introduced for teachers in time. Following the section 30 commencement, I hope these two measures will follow in the term of this Teaching Council. I understand that the Teaching Council has arranged for registered teachers to have free online access to research. This is an important measure to support teachers in keeping abreast of research and development in education. It should be noted that groups such as the Irish National Teachers Organisation have been providing courses in continual professional development for many years and have done so successfully. Therefore, we are not starting from scratch. I suggest that the Teaching Council engages, consultants and learns from groups such as the INTO, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and the Teachers Union of Ireland in this regard when the time comes.
I congratulate the Teaching Council on its FÉILTE initiative, launched last year, which supports teachers and helps them to learn from each other. This festival of education facilitates teachers talking to each other about innovation in their practice as educators. I am pleased to see that the council is planning another FÉILTE for October.
The Teaching Council regulates teaching and promotes professionalism in the interests of the public good. I have great admiration for the council. I know that Tomás Ó Ruairc, the current director, and his staff are fully committed to their task. I am aware of the dedication and commitment of teachers at primary, secondary and third level and their high professionalism. I have no doubt that as things develop the Teaching Council will be seen even more fully as a great step forward in giving public recognition to the dedication and professionalism of teachers.
I welcome the Minister to the House. What he has been telling us about is most important; the 87,000 registered people will have a major role to play in the future of this country. They always have. I do not want to be defensive, but some of the people who have made negative comments about Irish education were the very people who in 2008 were so incompetent in their own fields that education must now rectify that. The quality of Brendan Kennelly's poetry did not deteriorate in 2008, but the quality of banking, insurance and many other industries did, and hence we are left with the bill.
The process of learning is collegiate in nature. Teachers should group around their subject areas, come back to their old departments and see what the developments are in the current year in economics, geography, science and so on. Field trips are extremely valuable. I know the Minister wishes to have the same enthusiasm at second level that he feels has been generated at primary level by a curriculum change, rather than have this very strong domination by an exam system. Field trips and visits to schools by figures in public life, the world of business and the world of sport could be the days that students will remember when they have finished their education. There is room for great partnerships. The professionalism of education which this measure promotes is most valuable.
At third level, it should be expected that all subjects should be supplying the teachers. The Minister referred to how we get an adequate supply of people for the STEM subjects. How do we tackle the language problem? It has been a tradition that only certain academic departments produce the next generation of higher diploma graduates, but they should all be eligible. In planning for these changes, if we had an Italian teacher, could we have that person teaching Italian in about three or four schools, rather than teaching subjects outside their professional degree? There is a problem whereby teachers are teaching subjects for which they have not got the degree qualification. Perhaps some co-operation between schools and more flexible arrangements might lead to a better result all round.
There is a need for education departments in universities to relate to all of the subjects. Perhaps in the past, the links to science, technology, engineering and maths have not been strong enough. It is a problem, as the Minister has said, trying to get an adequate listing of how many maths teachers actually have a qualification in the subject. It was always held in the past that one of the difficulties with the revival of the Irish language was that at the foundation of the State, there were not that many people who had qualifications. Students are very astute. They will know whether one teacher is skilled and qualified in the subject, while the other teacher is not. That professionalism is most important, because there are no more astute consumers than the pupils themselves.
We still have to look at the problem of untrained and temporary teachers, as part of professionalism------
That is a very small problem now. The council has effectively closed the door on untrained or unqualified teachers.
That is excellent news and I thank the Minister for that. James Hickman from Harvard has stated that investment in early education is the crucial determinate; if a child starts well, he or she will do well thereafter. Perhaps the traditional system, whereby the longer somebody stayed in the system, the more resources were given to the person, contradicted the opinion that investment should be in the part of the system which everybody attends. James Hickman is one of the most eminent people in contemporary economics. He is saying the kind of things that the Minister is saying here.
Every university department should invite its teachers and its graduates back for a day or so. Let the geography teachers catch up on what has been happening with their subject, and so on. Looking at teacher conferences during the Easter vacation, I sometimes wish that much of the energy and the organisation went into discussing the subjects that happened in the classroom. They are very good at looking after labour relations and giving Ministers frosty receptions sometimes; if only there was the same organisation and enthusiasm for the subjects, such as how we are interpreting different events in history 100 years on. Conferences can be extremely valuable, and they certainly are at third level. If I go to a conference outside Ireland and catch up with what has been going on, I come back enthused. I know they have a reputation for being junkets, but they are very important in professional development.
The Minister's speech referred to compliance with national and school policies. This arises from an item Senator Crown raised earlier, namely, GP contracts which apparently have a rigid requirement that GPs are not allowed criticise the HSE or the Minister for Health.
I can assure the Senator that does not apply to teachers.
I thank the Minister. We should not insist on that degree of compliance. We must always be a society that is bubbling with ideas, as the Minister was in his time in Earlsfort Terrace. I assume that tradition will continue.
What we have heard is interesting, exciting, developmental, and extremely valuable. I hope we will always be open to keeping discussions like this going. Universities should play a stronger role and take an interest in this most vital element of education, namely, what happens to the next generation. It has probably not been given enough prominence within third level that the most important job we do is to produce the next generation of teachers and to relate to younger people. This training up to professional standards of 87,000 people is commendable. I thank the Minister for his presence and I wish him well in the endeavour.
I welcome the Minister back to the House this afternoon. As a profession, teaching has long been viewed as a valuable and respected way of earning a living. Going back to the days of the hedge schools, or the scoileanna scairte, in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Penal Laws dictated that "no person of the popish religion shall publicly or in private houses teach school or instruct youth in the learning within the realm", the school teacher was seen as a pillar of society, a crucial contributor to the life of the village or town, as well as an educator. Going back even further in time to the era of the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, and the Annals of the Four Masters, Ireland was considered a seat of learning, while Irish colleges were established all over Europe, from Leuven to Salamanca. We have had a long history of excellent education in Ireland, and can be justly proud of the high esteem in which our schools and colleges are held.
With such a long history, it is quite extraordinary that it took until seven years ago to establish a teaching council in Ireland, considering that such councils exist for many other professions, such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy and the legal profession. The establishment of the Teaching Council and its achievements to date are very positive developments for the foundation of professionally led regulations for teachers. The functions of the council are set out clearly in the 2001 Act, with the council being established in March 2006. For the past few years, teachers have been getting notifications - myself included - every year requesting them to register and to pay their registration fee. I am delighted that the registration fee has been reduced from €90 to €65. Along with my colleagues, I might have asked why we were paying this, but now I am delighted that the real impact of the Teaching Council on education in Ireland is becoming clear.
From 28 January 2014 any teacher in receipt of a salary from State funds must be registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland, under section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001. As a former teacher of many years, I wholeheartedly welcome this registration requirement. One of the most important functions of the Teaching Council of Ireland is the protection of standards of entry to the teaching profession, and establishing this register is one of the most significant milestones in the development of teaching as a profession. When one goes to a hospital or a surgery to get treatment for an illness, one expects the nurse, doctor or consultant will be registered, unless one is attending a training hospital, and to have a certain level competence. The same will apply to the teachers to whom parents entrust their child, as we all do, for a significant portion of the day. There are very limited and strict circumstances under which a school can employ an unregistered teacher, such as to prevent the school having to close if a registered substitute cannot be found. That is very significant because it has been a bone of contention and an area in which we need much stricter regulations. This will be a significant area in which the Teaching Council of Ireland will be of benefit and, as has been said, has closed that door quite considerably. The experience of newly qualified teachers in the past, myself included as I left college at the age of 19 years, was a baptism of fire. The teacher having completed the H Dip or primary school teaching degree walked into the classroom and on his or her first day was more or less left to one's own devices.
One was on one's own.
It was a case of sink or swim. If one were lucky one could ask for advice from an experienced teacher, but it could be a very isolating and lonely experience. I was a music teacher and I had to set up a music department in the school. While it gave me great scope and I had great ideas, it could be also a very daunting experience. The Teaching Council of Ireland recognises the importance of this period in a newly qualified teacher's career as a time when he or she needs the support of induction and probation. The Department for Education and Skills funds the national induction programme for teachers and the piloting of the Droichead scheme. This period of induction and probation supported by the Teaching Council of Ireland will ensure that newly qualified teachers get established in the classroom with the highest possible level of competence and confidence. This should go a long way towards enhancing the quality of teaching and learning for students in our classrooms. Continuous professional development is also to be welcomed as I believe it is vital to the success of teaching and education and will keep all teachers up to date in the profession. When I taught music I was the only music teacher in the school, as happens with that subject, and as the only music teacher at department meetings, things were very harmonious and nobody objected to any of the ideas I wanted to introduce. It is very important to have that outside scope. I know that the post-primary music teachers' association conferences were always a great support to me and we had some excellent conferences.
September 2012 saw the roll out of extended and reconceptualised programmes of initial teacher education. Concurrent initial teacher education programmes are now four years duration with the postgraduate programmes taking place over the two years. This is welcome. All reconfigured programmes are required to meet the Teachers Council's accreditation criteria, some of which are specifically related to numeracy and literacy. All of the 60 programmes of initial teacher education at primary and post-primary levels will be reviewed by October 2014. In addition the ten programmes in the further education sector have been accredited.
Teaching is a very complex career in many ways. The teacher is in a position of great trust and responsibility and must be competent not only in his or her subject area but in dealing with children and adolescents who not only require teaching but will benefit from mentoring, counselling, disciplining and often advising and providing advice. The teacher must also communicate with parents, who thankfully nowadays take a major interest in their child's education. The Teachers Council published the second edition of its code of professional conduct for teachers in 2012. The code was developed following a process of consultation with teachers and other stakeholders in education. It sets out first and foremost a clear description of what is expected of teachers in their professional role. It is great that we have clear definitions and clear goals of where we are going. There are 33 standards of professional knowledge, skills, competence and conduct expected of registered teachers. This shows just how complex this is but the core values are respect, care, integrity and trust.
I will comment briefly on the Teaching Council's function in respect to fitness to teach. This section of the Act will commence very shortly and is an area that has attracted most of the recent media coverage. In line with other regulatory bodies, the Act provides that the Teaching Council will have the means to investigate a teacher's fitness to teach and the Bill, given Government approval for drafting on 10 December 2013, will provide for a range of sanctions such as advice, admonishment and censure that may be applied by the Teaching Council following an inquiry. Such measures will ensure that members of the public and teachers themselves can be confident that teachers who are guilty of misconduct or who may need additional support will be dealt with appropriately. It is very important that we recognise that some people may need extra support because of something happening in their personal life or in the classroom. Parents can be assured that genuine concerns can be addressed through the available channels. We can look forward to the remaining element of the Act pertaining to the continuous professional development of teachers being rolled out in the near future. Teaching is a profession in which one cannot stand still. One must be always open to new methodologies, new ways of thinking. The majority of teachers welcome the opportunity to upskill and update. This can only mean enhanced teaching and learning in the classroom.
Senator Ó Domhnaill has five minutes.
I want to share my time equally with Senator Healy Eames.
Each of the Senators will have 2.5 minutes.
Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire inniu. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the role of the Teaching Council of Ireland in the important roll-out of education and the standard of teaching in all sectors, including primary, post-primary and further education. Education is beneficial for the public good and is a fundamental right for every citizen at a certain age to obtain the benefits of education. It defines who we are as a people and who we are as a nation. I very much welcome the new provision under section 30 of the Act for the enhanced role of the Teaching Council of Ireland and for compulsory registration. The Teaching Council of Ireland will have a number of roles, for example scrutiny, co-ordination and assisting in determining the teacher capacity in the State, which will give the Department an idea of the future demands for teachers of certain subjects, such as maths, English or Irish in the State. It is vitally important that the Department of Education and Skills would have an absolute command of the number of teachers in the system and projected demands, whether demographic or industry-led demands. Obviously there will be a cost associated with this, but I am not sure what it will be. Will the Minister clarify whether the Department will meet the additional cost, which I understand it will, or that the Teaching Council of Ireland will be asked to meet some of the additional costs, given it holds in the region of €11 million in its own bank account. Should the taxpayer be expected to carry additional costs when there is money in the bank?
To what are the costs related?
The implementation of section 30. Senator Barrett commented on field trips and visits and so on. We need to look at the education system and the benefits pupils derive from the system. Very many degree courses incorporate a year in industry as part of the course and this means the student on graduation has some level of experience in industry. Very often when one goes for an interview that is the first question one is asked. I think there is merit in that experience particularly when it is followed into third and fourth level education.
I have a number of questions on the reduction from €90 to €65 of the fee. I understand the €90 was tax deductible but I understand the fee of €65 cannot be written off against tax. I ask the Minister to liaise with the Teaching Council on the question of sport in the educational sector and to consider where we see the benefit of sport and the challenges being faced in society because of obesity. I will now hand over to my colleague, Senator Healy Eames
I call Senator Healy Eames. The Senator has one and a half minutes.
I thank Seanadóir Ó Domhnaill and the Acting Chairman. I also welcome the Minister to the House. We know that the key to a nation's future is the quality of its education and key to that is the quality of its teachers. I very much welcome this dimension within the new Teaching Council Act and the fact that 87,000 teachers have now registered is critical. I did speak to Tomás Ó Ruairc and he clarified that teachers who are out of the country - the Minister might clarify the matter - can register in the future because they are not here at the moment but may return.
Fitness to teach is the critical provision and is understandably controversial. I agree that the legislation must be fair to everyone - student and teacher. For the teacher, natural justice and due process is critical. There is no doubt that there is a need for it when I have heard that 65% of students in a class received grinds and the teacher got overwhelming results in the State examination. That tells me that something is fundamentally wrong.
In the past I have supervised teachers and been a teacher. Therefore, I can say that the key person that the Minister must invest in is the principal. A principal must be incredibly strong in order to address problems inside a school before a matter goes to a public hearing, and I ask the Minister to clarify that matter.
I wish to make two more brief points.
Three speakers wish to contribute so the Senator has ten seconds remaining.
The matter is critical. I know about the culture, having gone into schools. I have seen individual teachers being enthusiastic yet when I saw them in a classroom they had been flattened. The culture in a school is very powerful.
The Senator's time is up.
I shall make a final point or question.
I was saddened to discover, when I tabled an Adjournment matter before Christmas, that there was no roll-out plan to teach Chinese next September. I made the discovery when I listened to the response given by the Minister that day. I refer to the teaching of Chinese in terms of the reform of the junior certificate examination and the new programmes. We must have teachers. The Minister must show how we will bridge the gap and provide training to our teachers so that they can teach the subject. I have one or two more questions and thank the Acting Chairman for her indulgence.
No, Senator.
I am thanking her.
I have three speakers waiting and I have to call the Minister.
I thank the Acting Chairman.
I appreciate that but I have three speakers waiting and must call the Minister to respond at 1.20 p.m. I call Senator Naughton and she has five minutes. I would appreciate if she would speak for less time.
I will not be long because many Senators have already covered many of my issues.
I welcome the Minister to the House today. The council is a progressive and positive step forward in maintaining and improving teaching and learning standards. I was a primary schoolteacher and can see its value. Like Senator Moran, when we received notification about the Teaching Council we all wondered where it would lead. I can now say it is a positive step forward and is much needed in the education system.
As the Teaching Council is in place, I have a number of questions for the Minister on responsibilities, for example, those between the board of management, the Teaching Council, the Department and school inspections. Will there now be an overlap? With regard to standards and learning, will inspections come under the remit of the council?
My next question is on the hiring of teachers. I was employed by the board of management at my school. Is there an issue with regard to the standards of teaching, the code of conduct, professional standards, pupil or student welfare? Is it not the board of management that hires a teacher who is the first in line to deal with any issues that arise? I shall elaborate in order to provide clarity.
None of those relationships has changed.
If there is a complaint then at what point does the Teaching Council engage in the process? I want to understand the process and I ask the Minister to elaborate on the provision.
I welcome the minimum service requirement for probation. It has been reduced to 100 days in order to allow student teachers to complete their probation period.
I want the Minister to clear up another issue which relates to JobBridge. There are myths about JobBridge. It has been regularly said that young teachers have taken the jobs of other teachers but I do not believe that has been the case. I wish to put on record that I am very much in favour of JobBridge. I am also in favour of giving young people - be they teachers or whatever - work experience because it is a big issue in terms of unemployment. Employers receive impressive CVs that list primary degrees, masters and doctorates but the person may not have one day's work experience. An employer will take on a person who has work experience. Therefore, it is important to give young people a chance to gain some. I ask the Minister to expand and clarify the matter.
As a teacher I can say that it is important to have ongoing training and learning. It is crucial for the teacher but it is also crucial to maintain the morale in the school. One is constantly learning new skills and new ways to deal with special needs children. It is vital to keep up to date. What is learned in teacher training college is great but skills must be constantly renewed. A lot of teachers, as the Minister has said, are already engaged in training. It is nothing new but training will now be standard across the country.
I have outlined my main issues. I welcome the attendance of the Minister. The Teaching Council is a very good step forward for the teaching profession.
I thank the Senator. I call Senator Reilly. The Senator has five minutes. Senator Quinn is present so if she finishes early it will be fine.
I shall only use a few minutes. I welcome the Minister to the House. Much of what I was going to discuss has already been covered so I shall talk briefly about initial teacher education and entry requirements for teacher education programmes. My questions relate to the Minister's recent announcement about the politics in society module to be introduced for the leaving certificate course. What arrangement will be put in place to include teachers in the programme? When will the course be recognised by the Teaching Council as being suitable for teaching politics in society under the new curriculum?
Earlier the Minister said that in the interim, the council has produced a new set of criteria for registration on the basis of qualifications in post-primary subjects from 2017 onward. That provision will be important for students entering their first and second year of a degree in terms of module choice. What about those who have finished their primary degrees and masters, etc? Let me give myself as an example. If I wanted to become a politics in society teacher following my term in the Seanad would my course be recognised and if so, when would that be announced? When would I be able to study for a HDip course and achieve a qualification that would allow me to teach politics in society in a school? Many students and graduates of politics are greatly interested in such a job. There has also been talk about reducing the voting age. I attended the Constitutional Convention and part of the process was how to educate the young in order to get them to engage in the process and want to vote. The new curriculum will feed into that aim in a big way. How will teacher education feed into the goal to have politics in society?
The Senator's brevity is much appreciated, especially by Senator Quinn who has three minutes.
I am sure that I will not use my three minutes. I welcome my cousin here today. We do not see him often enough in here.
My experience and involvement in education was up to the leaving certificate applied. I do not hear enough about the course and I am a great believer in the qualification. There are a lot of jealousies or divisions in the area and I would like to hear far more about it.
I have checked and know - or at least I do not think so - that there is no follow-through on what happens when people graduate, have left college or emigrated. Other countries collect such data. In Italy and the Netherlands, the authorities follow through and collect data on what happens to their teachers.
There is a belief that there will be a big increase in the number of students starting school in the next six years - something like 15,000 extra students - yet there are 5,000 jobs in the IT area waiting to be filled. I know that the Minister is working on the problem and hope that we can do something about the matter.
The other area that teachers can do something about, rather than the Department, is their status. In Finland the recognition and status of a teacher is what it used to be here although I am not sure that continues to be the case. In Finland teachers are still the most important person in a town. Finnish teachers earn less than their Irish counterparts but they are still highly regarded. Part of that is due to the behaviour of the teachers' council in Finland which encourages its teachers to continue their studies during the summer break. I am not sure to what extent such learning takes place here.
In France teachers give students who have slipped back a little bit over the year lessons or tuition during the summer. I understand that is done, to a large extent, by the teachers themselves but such an initiative is encouraged by their local teachers' council. Those are the sorts of things that the Teaching Council could do in Ireland.
I thank all Senators for the welcome they have given the proposal and for their generally supportive comments.
I will try to respond as comprehensively as possible to everything that has been said but if I fail to do so, I will communicate with Members later. Senator Power raised the issue of facilitating principals. We are recognising the leadership role of principals, to which Senator Healy Eames and others referred. In Finland, for example, the role of the principal is recognised in a way that previously was not the case in a formal sense and we are exploring how that can be implemented in consultation with the representative bodies, the IPPN and NAPD.
I will come back on another occasion to discuss the issue of fitness to teach and related matters because time does not allow for that now. Senator Power asked whether fitness to teach hearings will be held in public. This will be a matter for the Teaching Council to determine, as is the case with the Medical Council and other bodies. I will meet council members over the next few weeks and I will convey to them the concerns expressed. I will ensure all 37 members receive a hard copy of the transcript of this debate in order that they will have an up-to-date record of Members' concerns.
I welcome Senator Jim D'Arcy's comments about the new junior cycle. He said the council is an important body and I regret it has taken such a long time for it to get to the point it has reached. We now have a clear system, which we did not have, given the primary education system officially goes back to 1831 and there is significant evidence there was a strong, albeit informal, structure of primary education throughout the country prior to that. Former Senator, Professor Joe Lee, reviewed a book written by the late Garret FitzGerald, which I had the honour to launch, in last Saturday's edition of The Irish Times. There is a great deal of statistical data that clearly indicate there was a commitment to obtaining an education and, consequently, a respect for the standing of the school teacher, to which Senator Moran alluded. That has stood us in great stead and continues to do so.
I would like the emergence of the Teaching Council to build on that tradition and respect. It should be a regulatory body for teachers and how they move forward. A total of 22 out of the 37 members of the council are teachers. One cannot say they are not represented in respect of the council and how it evolves. There are plenty of models worldwide that provide an example of how it should evolve. The council must respect the concerns of parents and those who use the education system.
I refer to the pertinent comments raised by Senator Barrett. Primary schoolteachers come through the initial teacher education training and, classically, they teach schoolchildren whereas secondary school teachers teach subjects. The Senator is correct that we have been haphazard in allowing the system to independently produce subject teachers such as for geography and science. Until two and a half years ago, there were 19 centres of initial teacher education, all of which were funded by the State but controlled by different institutions, reflecting the history of education in the country. They have been reconfigured into six centres and we will examine the issues to which the Senator referred and, hopefully, having regard to the esteemed institution in which he spends the remainder of his time, it will take a renewed interested in education. As he correctly said, it is not just the compartmentalised responsibility of one department; it is the responsibility of the entire university system to examine how it prepares graduates in whatever discipline to become teachers. I would welcome that very much.
Senator Moran referred to the scoileanna scairte, hedge schools. She also referred to the support for teachers in the context of her experience as the sole music teacher in a school. Support for teachers as their careers progress is important. What is happening informally at the moment is extraordinary. The Irish Times education supplement is one of the bibles of the profession and there is a website on which thousands of teachers write about their observations on teaching plans and their experience of what has or has not worked. It is a virtual chatroom in which teachers are not confined to the physical staffroom but can enter the staffroom in the cloud to share best practice and experience, including the significant amount of continuing professional development, CPD, work that they do. I would not like the impression to emerge from this debate that teachers are not engaged in self-development and CPD. The vast bulk of them are but they are not our problem. Our problem is those who do not do this. To renew a licence to practise as a doctor, solicitor or an architect, one must provide evidence of CPD and that will now apply to teachers. How that is produced and delivered is a matter for the council, as it is with every other regulated profession. This is a critically important step. This should not be perceived as a criticism of teachers. This will set a floor whereby all teachers will continue to do what the vast bulk of them currently do.
Senator Ó Dómhnaill referred to fees. I will point his comments out to the members of the council when I meet them but I am told that this money will be used as a war chest to fight legal disputes. We have learned from such disputes elsewhere that it is best to find another way to intervene with a teacher for whatever reason. We all slip on occasion. The last thing I want is teachers barred from practice. If they are struggling, I would like other teachers, as has happened informally in schools, metaphorically to put their arms around them and get them back to the point where they can continue. If teaching turns out not to be the career for them, they should be assisted to move successfully to another career. They should not have their livelihood taken from them. This is not about a punitive raid on somebody who does not meet somebody else's standard. Hopefully, the €11 million war chest could be used in a supportive way to reinforce and sustain teachers. We have all gone through periods, as Senator Power said, when other factors impact and intrude on our ability to do our day job. That is what this is about. It has been caricatured as being punitive but it is not. It is supportive. At the end of the day, the 37 members of the council will have the final say. The Department will liaise with them and we will offer our views and so on but the council will stand in its own right.
Senator Naughton asked a number of questions. The role of the board of management as the employer will remain untouched by this. If a teacher has performance difficulties, the principal, as would happen in any organisation, will have the primary responsibility as the manager to intervene and provide support. I acknowledge they need support in this area and this relates to leadership and so on. The current inspection system can draw attention to deficiencies or difficulties in the performance of some teachers in the most gentle and supportive way. We are trying to identify weaknesses that can be remedied rather than punishing people or hunting them out of the system.
The hiring of a teacher is a matter for the board of management. The Senator also referred to a code of conduct and complaints. This will evolve. If parents had a problem with a teacher but had no problem with the school, I would like to think they could convey that in a way that did not get them into a conflict with the school.
It is to be hoped the evolution of the Teaching Council will facilitate that.
I could not agree more with Senators on JobBridge and probation. There is a worldwide shortage of teachers and an even larger worldwide shortage of Irish-trained teachers. Some argue we should tighten the labour market to produce enough teachers to meet our demands. That is not the case. There are many people who want to be teachers but also want to see the world. Through postgraduate courses, Irish-trained teachers can teach as far away as in Australia and closer to home in the south of England where there is a chronic shortage of teachers. I would like the INTO to change its attitude to JobBridge. It is not a yellow pack substitute for teachers but is designed to enable qualified teachers to get the necessary 100 day probation period which will allow them apply for other positions.
We will be introducing a new leaving certificate subject called politics and society. The course has been written and is available online. A teacher will naturally be qualified to teach and can add it to other subjects. If the person has done politics in their primary degree, they would be a prime candidate for this subject. It is early days yet, however.
My cousin, Senator Feargal Quinn raised the issue of the leaving certificate applied. I commend the work done on it at the time but, sadly, the numbers on it are beginning to drop. While it was appropriate at the time it was introduced, changes in the junior cycle will pick up the points the Senator and his team identified at the time on non-academic subjects that need to be recognised and advanced.
I thank the House again for the positive input it gives to education debates whenever I attend here. I will make arrangements for the 37 members of the Teaching Council to get a full transcript of what has transpired here in order that they will be informed of the Senators’ concerns and can respond to them. I would like the miscellaneous education Bill to be introduced tomorrow but that sense of impatience does not necessarily produce the results. One cannot make a kettle boil faster than it will. There are several provisions, such as vetting, that we would like to add to it. I hope to initiate it in this House this side of Easter and have it enacted before the summer recess.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive replies which are always appreciated by Members.