Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I propose to share time with Deputy Durkan. While I broadly welcome the terms of the Education (Amendment) Bill, certain provisions are lacking and I am glad to air my views. The Teaching Council of Ireland was established by statute in March 2006 to promote teaching as a profession at primary and post-primary levels, to promote the professional development of teachers and to regulate standards in our profession. In light of our severe economic climate and the resulting cuts that need to be made in the education budget, it is prudent that the Minister explores the possibility of subsuming the Teaching Council into the Department of Education and Skills. Due to economic restraints, England subsumed its teaching council into the English Department for Education and there is real merit to this approach. As an ex-principal and a teacher, I had many discussions with teachers regarding the effectiveness and dividend on the ground provided by the Teaching Council and I strongly urge that this be explored.

Currently, the Teaching Council of Ireland employees 24 full-time employees and is housed in Maynooth. Teachers pay a €90 registration fee and there are roughly 73,000 teachers registered, which equates to a €6.57 million annual income. Is this necessary? Making registration conditional on the successful completion of continual professional development must be welcomed. This requirement is standard in other professions such as nursing and doctors. I would welcome further detail from the Minister on the matter. For example, who will be providing this training and who will be paying for it? Will the training be provided by the education centres, the INTO, the teacher training colleges or the universities? In the interests of clarity and fairness, I ask the Minister to make this information available as a matter of priority.

I ask the Minister to explore, along with the training colleges, the possibility of introducing an interview process for teacher student candidates prior to admittance to college. Good teachers must have excellent communication and people skills. We must ensure the right people qualify and ultimately have a long and fulfilling career in the education sector. In Finland, students are tested through interview for communication skills, willingness to learn, academic ability and motivation for teaching. Focus must be placed on ensuring that students have the right skills and aptitude for teaching. Interviewing prospective students is in the interest of potential teachers, students and State resources. As an ex-principal, I have seen teachers come through the system who are not able to cope with the social, emotional and educational demands of teaching. Sadly, after three years of teacher training, they find out that teaching is not for them. I urge the Minister to examine the Hibernia College model and use it in the other teacher training colleges. These individuals often diversify into another field and their teacher training is a lost resource. It results in the individual teacher being frustrated and hindered in his or her development and the loss of State resources.

The lack of males in the teaching profession also needs to be addressed. The CSO women and men in Ireland report 2011 indicated the teaching profession is 73.3% female. Undoubtedly, this has a negative impact on children as many lack the influence of positive male role models.

With regard to the other element of speech and language services addressed in the Bill, I ask the Minister to explore possible methods of providing speech and language services to children in their own school environment. This would ease pressure on parents significantly and, more important, children would lose fewer hours of teaching time due to appointments.

Finally, I welcome the confirmation the Minister provided that vocational education committees will be reformed. I strongly urge the Minister to examine the make-up of the VEC boards. There are far too many political appointments to them. Furthermore, I encourage the Minister to investigate the possibility of imposing a voluntary model, similar to that in primary schools, on these boards. The volunteering role of people serving on primary school boards and voluntary secondary schools is one that should be replicated across the education system. The buck stops at the Minister's desk and I ask that expenses be reduced for VECs.

See this speech in context