Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 November 2014
847. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties for trainee teachers in their attempts to gain probationary teaching hours; her plans to put in place a strategy to address this problem; the options available in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; if they will be facilitated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40910/14]
View answer934. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the case of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; if this person will be allowed to complete an approved and sanctioned probationary period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42081/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 847 and 934 together. The Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority, under the Teaching Council Act 2001, for establishing procedures and criteria for the probation of teachers. All primary teachers must complete their probation successfully before they can achieve full registration with the Teaching Council. Newly qualified teachers who obtain employment for 100 days in a teaching position deemed suitable for the purpose of probation are eligible to apply for inspection visits for the purpose of probation. In this particular case, the teacher obtained a position under the JobBridge programme. Teachers availing of the JobBridge programme who have full responsibility for a mainstream class of a minimum of 10 pupils are eligible to apply for inspection visits for the purpose of probation. However, when all details of the conditions of employment of the teacher in this case were provided to my Department's Inspectorate, it became clear that the teacher did not fulfil the conditions necessary to evaluate professional competence in all areas of practice. If a newly qualified teacher is unable to complete probation in the time period specified by the Council he/she should apply to the Council for an extension to that period. Measures have also been put in place in recent years to alleviate the difficulties experienced by some teachers in securing employment to complete probation. The allocation of additional funding for the employment of teachers, due to the increase in numbers of pupils, in the 2015 budget will assist in creating additional positions which will further assist newly qualified teachers to obtain positions.
