Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I taught construction and technical graphics. I did the concurrent degree in the University of Limerick so it was a bachelor of technology and education. I assume it is still there. I went through pedagogy concurrently in the four years and this goes back to what was mentioned about teaching practice. There is the idea that this could go towards the 300 hours or weighted towards them.

Not so much in second year teaching practice, but in fourth year I learned more than what I did on my first day of teaching. The learning curve was huge. It was ten to 12 weeks and it was quite constant. We were not paid. I do not know whether people undertaking teaching practice are paid now, but we were not. I used to work every hour God sent, here, there and everywhere. I gained huge experience out of that. That could be put towards it.

The witness mentioned vetting, and how a principal might be looking for a teacher in an emergency situation. It goes back to Deputy Collins's point on retired teachers. I would like the witness to elaborate on vetting and what the process is. I understood that if someone is vetted they are ready to go, that they are a sub on the bench and then they get off the bench and work. If principles are looking for teachers in an emergency situation and it is on an ad hoc basis would this Bill not defeat the purpose of why they are looking for those people in the first place? They are looking for people for a day here, an hour or two hours there, whereas I understand that we are trying to band the hours together and give teachers some certainty, to guarantee five or ten hours a week. I would like some clarification around that in case I have misunderstood.