Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

Yes, indeed. It is positive that the Minister is improving this scheme for teachers and I hope there is an easier and more cost-effective way for schools to manage it.

On the issue of enhancing service delivery, teachers, like all professionals range from good to bad and from excellent to poor. I do not go along with the saying that "He who can does, and he who cannot teaches". As a profession, teachers are maligned; they have that in common with us now. They are maligned in particular by certain sections of the media. Some of these only see the holidays and the shorter hours of teachers and when teachers try to explain what they do, they are on a hiding to nothing.

I would like to use some of my time to acknowledge the commitment, dedication and hard work of teachers at primary and second level, both in and outside of the classroom. I also acknowledge the range of extra curricular activities that go on, whether sports, drama, theatre visits, debating, participation in the Young Scientist exhibition, quizzes, visits to places of interest, competitions and field trips, etc. Many of these out of school activities involve teachers and are organised by teachers. None of them happens at the click of a finger and they are additional to the normal work of teachers. The clause in the Croke Park agreement regarding the additional hour per week required of teachers was insulting to those teachers who put in many additional hours voluntarily. I know these "forced hours" are detrimental and are causing difficulties in some schools. Teachers have also been very flexible. They have been very involved in the many changes that have come about. I refer to the curricular changes and the new courses and initiatives that have been introduced, in some cases without in-service support. Such initiatives include the Walk Tall programme and the On My Own Two Feet educational package. There have been changes in the syllabus, including the introduction of subjects like civic, social and political education and social, personal and health education.

Teachers have proven that they can cope with the range of abilities and the learning and behavioural difficulties in each group. As a teacher, one has to play the role of a teacher, a parent and a social worker. One spends most of the day playing the part of "Judge Judy". When social issues like drugs, alcohol, smoking and driving come up, there is an assumption that the schools will look after them. Although teachers embrace this aspect of their roles, there are limits because their basic job is to teach a curriculum.

We could paper the walls of all of our schools with the policies and plans that have been imposed on teachers. The time it takes to deal with them is not available for engaging with young people in the classroom. Teachers are getting on with it, however, because it is a wonderful career. Statistics relating to CAO applications indicate that teaching, as a career, is still in high demand. Studies have shown that there continues to be a high level of satisfaction with this career among teachers. Other countries, by contrast, are finding it difficult to maintain the status of the profession.

I would like to speak about the Teaching Council, which is one of my favourite topics. Like most teachers I know, I have many issues with the council. In most cases, the first engagement we had with the council was a letter threatening that our salaries would not be paid unless we signed up to the Teaching Council. The letter was sent out at a time when the legislation had not yet been passed. Therefore, the council was acting in a manner that was illegal and totally wrong. It started off on the wrong footing.

I have already mentioned the €90 fee. It is wrong that the fee has to be paid regardless of whether one is a full-time teacher, one teaches for two hours a week, or one wants to get a job interview. The Teaching Council has been putting in place a register of teachers since it was established in 2006, but it still has not got it right. The Department of Education and Skills had been dealing with professional qualifications since the foundation of the State. I was bemused to read that the council will have a function in determining fitness to teach. On the basis of what I have seen of its work, I suggest it should start by working on its own fitness to practice.

I have examined what the Teaching Council has been doing since 2006. I have yet to meet a teacher who has had a positive engagement or experience with the council, or who believes the €90 charge is worth it. Perhaps I will be inundated with e-mails from teachers saying I am wrong. Anybody I know who is involved in teaching at primary or secondary level does not have a word of praise for the council. That cannot be attributed solely to the €90 fee.

The Teaching Council had an income of more than €6 million in each of 2009 and 2010. Its staff, who are doing work that used to be done by officials in the Department of Education and Skills, accounted for costs of almost €2 million in each of those years. The council's administration costs were approximately €750,000 and its additional information technology costs were approximately €250,000. It spent some €500,000 on communications and education costs. I wonder what the council has been doing for teachers.

As I have mentioned, the main event the Teaching Council engaged in last year seemed to involve seeking a major salary increase for the outgoing director, who wanted a 20% pay rise to increase her pension and lump sum on retirement. Twenty-four members of the council voted for it and four voted against it. Thankfully, the Department of Education and Skills vetoed the increase. It had to ask for copies of the mathematics survey. It is supposed to have all of that information. I note from its website that it wants teachers to make submissions on various matters. Does it not have any idea of the workload of teachers?

I wish to speak about the expenses incurred by the members of the Teaching Council. Its meetings generally take place in Maynooth. In 2010, one member received €11,000 and ten members received over €5,000. The bigger the car, the bigger the expense. We know what that is doing for the environment. The council has an executive committee, an investigations committee, a disciplinary committee, a regulation committee, a finance committee, an education committee, an audit committee, an evidence of character panel, a primary applications panel and a post-primary applications panel. No wonder it took six years and over €5 million to establish the council.

The Teaching Council held its first conference in November 2011. I have examined the agenda for this two-day event. I would have liked to have been there because it seems interesting. I can imagine the expenses that were accrued by the third level lecturers, all of whom are paid in their country of origin, who spoke at the conference. The lecturers in question came from Ireland, England, Boston College, the University of Lapland, the University of Malta, Spain and Scotland. All of their expenses were paid. It was all very interesting. I am sure the council's staff of almost 30 officials, each of whom is paid an average salary of approximately €41,000, were needed to sort out all of the expense claims.

I would like to refer to what teachers have said about the Teaching Council. It has been described as a "useless regulatory body" that provides jobs for the boys and for the unions. It has been suggested that it has had "absolutely no impact" on the teaching profession. It has been claimed that the council is an "expensive, pointless self-serving bureaucracy" that accomplishes nothing that is not "already being done better elsewhere", including in the Department of Education and Skills. When a teacher pays the €90 fee, he or she gets a piece or paper saying that he or she is a teacher. We know that already. The teacher then has to send in a certificate of qualification to the council, even though that has already been vetted by the relevant awarding body to prove the person in question is a teacher. It is a catch-22 if ever there was one.

I wish to speak about the role of in-service. I belong to the associations of English and history teachers, both of which are great organisations. The seminars and expertise they provide as part of the in-service process are absolutely fabulous. The organisations know who to get because they are run by teachers.

I would like to read what the Minister's counterpart in England said when he decided to abolish the General Teaching Council for England:

Since I have been shadowing education .... there has been one organisation of whose purpose and benefit to teachers I am deeply sceptical .... this organisation does little to raise teaching standards or professionalism. Instead it simply acts as a further layer of bureaucracy while taking money away from teachers.

The Minister spoke about having a fully registered professional group. I suggest that is already provided for in the figures maintained by the Department of Education and Skills.

I will pick up on some of the other points the Minister made in his opening speech. I remind him, in response to what he said about qualified and registered teachers, that being unregistered does not mean being unqualified. I am glad the Minister is making provision and providing leeway for schools to employ qualified but unregistered teachers. It is a practical approach. I do not see why such teachers should be paid less, however.

I can give an example of the need to cater for the short-term needs of schools. A friend of mine who had retired was needed by a school for a particular piece of work that could not be done by anyone else. Obviously, she had not paid the registration fee. After she had gone through the hassle of getting registered, she had to go through more hassle with Garda vetting because the vetting she already had did not suit the vetting requirements of the Teaching Council. She had to contend with layer after layer of work.

I wish to speak about the matter of redeployment. If a school is over quota, I do not think it should be a case of "last in, first out". The subject requirements of the school have to be taken into account.

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