The Teaching Council is the body with statutory responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession including the registration of teachers in Ireland.
The Teaching Council's (Registration) Regulations 2016 (SI 444 of 2016) set out the requirements to be registered as a teacher in Ireland. Under these regulations there are four defined routes to registration, namely Route 1 Primary; Route 2 Post-Primary; Route 3 Further Education; Route 4 Other.
Under Section 38 of the Teaching Council Act, all initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in Ireland that lead to registration must have professional accreditation from the Teaching Council in accordance with the Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers (published in 2011 and revised in March 2017).
Under the Council’s criteria for initial teacher education, student teachers in all accredited programmes are required to undertake study in Inclusive Education including Special Education.