Robert Troy
Ceist:326. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding the five-day rule for student teachers. [60277/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 7 December 2021
Ceisteanna (326)
Freagraí scríofa
The 5 day rule applies to all unregistered persons employed in the place of registered teachers.
As the Deputy will be aware, my Department has engaged with the education stakeholders in recent weeks on the issues raised about the difficulty accessing substitutes for teacher absences at this time. Recognising that there are pressures in this area at the moment due to COVID-19, my Department recently announced a range of measures to assist with the availability of substitutes until the February 2022 mid-term break.
One of these measures relates to student teachers. Following positive engagement with the Higher Education Institutions who provide primary and post primary initial teacher education programmes they have agreed to greater programme flexibility to enable students in Year 3 and Year 4 of concurrent programmes and students on consecutive (PME) programmes to support schools up to the end of the term.
My Department also confirmed that the education stakeholders, including the HEI Colleges and the Teaching Council, will continue to work together to address any practical issues so as to ensure the ongoing availability of student teachers to support schools pre and post - Christmas 2021.