Vol. 520 No. 5
16 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will extend recognition as a national teacher to a person (details supplied) in County Meath who is an Australian trained primary teacher with 15 years primary teaching experience, a BA Degree and a B Ed Degree and specialist knowledge of teaching primary school children information technology, as someone who could be recognised as a national school teacher here. [13370/00]
Applications from teachers trained outside the European Union for recognition as fully qualified primary teachers are assessed on an individual basis. Such teachers must have a primary teaching qualification from a jurisdiction outside the European Union to teach the range of primary school curricular areas to children aged four to 12 years. Applicants are required to submit their qualifications to the Department for assessment. At the moment, teachers from outside of the European Union are not eligible for the five-year period of provisional recognition that applies to teachers from the European Union and, accordingly, cannot take up positions in mainstream primary schools until they meet the Department's Irish language requirements. In order to meet this requirement teachers must have obtained a pass in the scrúdú cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge, SCG, and provide certification that they have attended an approved three week residential course in the Gaeltacht.
However, non-EU teachers whose qualifications have been assessed as satisfactory, but who are not entitled to teach in mainstream primary schools because they do not possess the Irish language qualification, are recognised by my Department to teach in special schools and classes where Irish is not a curricular requirement. This recognition has also been recently extended to allow such teachers to take up positions as resource teachers for children with special needs.
The position regarding the person referred to by the Deputy is that her qualifications have been submitted to, and assessed by, my Department. She has been granted restricted recognition to teach in certain special schools and classes. She is also now entitled to take up resource teaching posts for children with special needs. On taking up a post in a special school or class, or a resource teaching post, she will be remunerated at the full rate of salary and be entitled to all additional qualification allowances.
I have asked officials within my Department to examine the possibility of extending the same treatment to non-EU teachers as is currently applied to teachers trained within the EU. Teachers trained within the EU, on having their qualifications assessed as satisfactory by my Department, are given a period of provisional recognition of five years in order to allow them to obtain the Irish language qualification. During this period of provisional recognition these teachers are entitled to take up teaching positions in any primary school and are remunerated at the normal salary levels, including the payment of additional qualification allowances. I hope to be in a position shortly to announce the result of the examination referred to above.
