Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc:

No, I will be taking it.

On behalf of the Teaching Council, I welcome the opportunity to discuss matter of leaving certificate reform. Before I comment on the questions posed by the committee, I would like to explain briefly what the council is and what we do. The Teaching Council is the statutory professional standards body for teaching in Ireland. We are responsible for promoting and regulating the profession of teaching under the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015. Our functions include: advising the Minister for Education and Skills on entry criteria for programmes of initial teacher education, ITE; reviewing and accrediting, as appropriate, all programmes of ITE in the State; induction and probation of newly qualified teachers; maintaining the largest register of professionals in the State. There are just over 97,000 teachers on the register; vetting of teachers; teachers’ learning, or continuous professional development, CPD; investigating complaints against teachers under the council’s fitness to teach remit; and commissioning research to inform our work and support a research-informed teaching profession.

In the context of those functions, it is worth noting at the outset of our statement that not all the questions posed in the committee’s letter of 8 November are equally pertinent to the council’s remit. For that reason, we have decided to respond in broad terms under a number of key headings, which I hope the committee will find helpful. These are: teachers will play a lead role in curricular reform; reforms of teacher education over the past six years overseen by the Teaching Council are enhancing teachers’ capacity to engage in, and lead, curricular reform; the ongoing reform of leaving certificate will have implications for teacher education which we in the council and all stakeholders will need to take account of; it will be important to ensure that teachers have sufficient space and time to engage in professional learning that will fully support them in teaching the new curricula and subject specifications that will emerge over time.

I will come to the first heading in terms of teachers playing a lead role in curricular reform. Teaching and learning are complex endeavours which take place in an evolving and dynamic context. Recent decades have seen new understandings and insights emerge in a range of areas, including pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, human learning, early childhood education and teacher education. In parallel, teachers have found themselves facing a range of new challenges and opportunities in the classroom. This complexity is intensified by the fact that teaching takes place in a multiplicity of contexts, thereby resulting in a diverse range of needs. Given these realities, it stands to reason that significant decisions in regard to teaching and learning should be made by teachers, as professionals, who are closest to the site of action and who are committed to the best interests of their pupils and students.

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that teachers are proud of the high quality education system which we have in Ireland, as we all are. We will need to be reassured that any changes will maintain and enhance the quality of teaching and learning. In our experience of education reform in the Teaching Council, the challenge is to strike and maintain an appropriate balance between maximising the scope for innovation and professional autonomy on the one hand at the local level, and on the other ensuring that robust and reliable standards continue to underpin the quality of learning experience which all learners experience in our schools and centres of education. Teachers will be as vigilant as anybody else in that endeavour.

The Teaching Council, therefore, believes that teachers, as leaders of learning, will play a lead role in processes of curricular reform, including the reform of leaving certificate. Simply put, it is teachers who will teach the syllabi or subject specifications that will emerge through reform of the leaving certificate. It will be of the utmost importance that their voices are heard, in all their diversity, in ongoing consultation so as to ensure that the shared vision underpinning reform is fully realised. In terms of the reforms of teacher education reforms that we have overseen over the past six years, they have seen significant change in the quality of education received by teachers in this State. Under the Department of Education and Skills’ literacy and numeracy strategy, and the council’s criteria and guidelines for programmes of ITE, the qualification required to become a teacher was extended to four years at undergraduate level and two years at postgraduate level.

In line with the accreditation criteria established by the council in 2011, all programmes of initial teacher education have also been reconceptualised to allow for a number of innovations, including extended school placement and an increased emphasis on reflective practice and research and inquiry-based learning. The enhanced programmes which are now in place will support enhanced capacity to develop and adapt curricula and assessment practices in schools. It is noteworthy, for example, that foundation studies are now a mandatory area of all programmes of initial teacher education, and that "through macro curriculum studies, these areas develop students’ understanding of, and capacity to critically engage with, curriculum aims, design, policy, reform, pedagogy and assessment."