Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
823. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education if she will request the Teaching Council of Ireland to expedite an application (details supplied) in view of the shortage of teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2001/22]
View answerThe Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. It acts in the interests of the public good while upholding and enhancing standards in the teaching profession.
The Teaching Council registers teachers in line with the requirements set out in the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016.
My Department commenced Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001 on 28 January 2014. Section 30 makes it a requirement for teachers to register with the Teaching Council in order to be paid from State funds.
Information including the processing timeframes that apply for overseas qualified applicants, are published on the Teaching Council website as are the vetting and police clearance requirements. For overseas applications, it can take up to 12 weeks from receipt of all documentation, and this is clearly stated on the website. This is in line with national and international timeframes in operation across professional regulatory bodies., and is applied equally to all applicants.
The Teaching Council inform me that the application from the individual in question for the assessment of qualifications for the purpose of registering as a primary teacher was submitted online to the Council on 14 December 2021. The applicant was advised by email on the 11 January 2022 that module descriptors were required. This was clarified in a phone call on the 11 January 2022 also.
The Teaching Council also inform me that they will continue to liaise with the applicant to progress the application to ensure appropriate evidence for the education qualifications is provided.
The person referred to by the Deputy should continue to liaise directly with the Teaching Council and follow their guidance in order to meet the criteria to obtain full registration.
Further information on the process is outlined herewith.
Vetting and Police Clearance Requirements:
All applicants for registration, irrespective of country of qualification are required to comply with Council’s fit and proper assessment processes. This requires all applicants to apply for Garda Vetting via the Council, provide a Character Reference, and where resident outside the island of Ireland for an accumulated period of 36 months since the age of 18 to provide a police clearance from each country of residence. All applicants who have resided in the UK are required to provide an International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) and not the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This requirement is clearly stated on the Council’s website in the guide to obtaining police certificates and includes the contact information of the services in the UK. The date of issue of the ICPC must be within 6 months of the date of application to the Council. These measures are introduced to ensure the protection of the public and specifically the children and vulnerable persons who engage with registered teachers on a daily basis.
The teacher in question having lived and worked in the UK was therefore required to provide International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) and not the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
Qualification Assessment:
Fully qualified teachers who have qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland are eligible to apply for registration with the Teaching Council. All applications are individually assessed in a holistic manner to ensure that qualifications are of a comparable standard to those achieved by graduates of accredited programmes in Ireland. Where significant differences arise, conditions (qualification shortfalls) will be applied to the teacher's registration.
In order to carry out an individual assessment of teaching qualification for registration purposes, the Council requests specific documents to be submitted with an application for registration, including module descriptors. As per the Application Guidelines for Assessment of Qualifications for Route 1 registration (primary), a module descriptor is a succinct description of a module and its key features and should include: a summary of the module content; a description of how the module content is delivered; a description of how the module content is assessed; the learning outcomes associated with the module; any periods of supervised school placement/supervised teaching practice. Assessments can only be carried out on the information provided by the applicant, and it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide sufficient information in each module descriptor in order to facilitate assessment. In cases where a programme provider cannot provide module descriptors, for example due to the passing of time since an applicant qualified, and written evidence from the provider of this situation is submitted, the Council will work with an applicant to satisfy the Council’s evidentiary requirements.
