Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
258. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Education the reason for the delay in issuing teacher registration numbers across the State (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41259/23]
View answerThe Teaching Council is the competent authority for the recognition of qualifications for those who qualified as teachers outside of Ireland. The Teaching Council adheres to the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015, the Teaching Council Registration Regulations (2016) and in its role as a competent authority, it operates in accordance with the EU Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EU as amended). As a statutory professional standards body, the Teaching Council is required by law to properly determine and to authenticate the relevant standards and qualifications of all applicants for registration. One of the ways the Council ensures and regulates standards is by ensuring that all teachers entering the profession in Ireland have met the required standards.
Fully qualified teachers are eligible to apply for registration with the Teaching Council under the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations. The Council registers teachers under five Routes of Registration: Route 1 Primary, Route 2 Post-primary, Route 3 Further Education, Route 4 Other and Route 5 Student Teachers.
Teachers who qualify from outside of Ireland applying for registration under the standard pathway to registration must be fully qualified teachers which includes the completion of any period of post-qualification registration requirements in the country they qualified, e.g., teacher induction in England. All applications from teachers who qualify outside of Ireland are processed in line with EU Directive.
In addition, for a time limited period under the Teaching Council (Registration) (Amendment), 2023, the Teaching Council is accepting applications from teachers who have not completed induction in the country they qualified.
The Teaching Council has confirmed that there are no backlogs or delays in the processing of any category of applications, including all applications currently being processed. The published timeframes for the processing of applications are being adhered to. The Teaching Council has all necessary resources in place to ensure the timely registration, renewal of registration and vetting of teachers for the national Register of Teachers. Over the past two years in particular, they have further streamlined and enhanced all registration systems and processes, introducing a new online registration system that has added efficiencies to processes, making it easier for applicants to track applications in real time.The average processing time to successful completion of registration for domestically qualified applicants is is 2.6 weeks.
The Teaching Council receives approximately 600 eligible applications annually from teachers who have qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland. Teachers who qualified outside of Ireland are advised that applications may take up to 12 weeks to process from receipt of all required documentation. This is in line with the EU Directive timeframe which provides for an assessment to be carried out due to the necessity to verify and assess qualifications and credentials obtained in other countries. Processing time commences from the date that applicants submit all documents required to conduct that assessment.
On average the processing time of overseas applications for primary teachers is 3-4 weeks and for post-primary teachers is 8 weeks.
