Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I have one area of concern. The Minister is saying that in order for someone to renew their registration as a teacher, they would have to show they have completed in-service training and continuing education, which is not specified. What exactly does the Minister mean? Has any teacher refused to go on in-service training? Is this an issue or a problem? My own experience in teaching is that it was very difficult to be allowed out for in-service training because if a teacher went, somebody had to replace them. Due to all the shortages there were bigger class sizes and a lack of substitute teachers. Teachers had to apply for in-service training but were often not allowed to go. That has been my experience. Is the Minister going to start disciplining and refusing to re-register teachers who have not had the opportunity of in-service training because they were not released by their principals? Ultimately, school principals have the power.

Many teachers are female and leave the profession for a period of years to have children and so on. Before they resume teaching and obtain the Teaching Council registration, will they had to attend a series of new courses? How would they do that? Is there such a programme? The Minister seems to have inserted something onerous in the Bill. It has been my experience that there are difficulties in getting to do training.

Most teachers end up having to pay for all of these things themselves. Since I was elected to the Dáil, I have not heard a peep from the Minister about the one-in-four secondary teachers who do not have permanent jobs. They do not have the money to pay for courses. Many of them are better qualified than the Minister or I because they have had to do masters courses for less pay. I am concerned that this burden will be placed on people.

Most teachers are part-time and work in McDonalds or Lidl at the weekends. That is the reality, yet the Minister expects them to be able to engage in all these extra educational activities. Most teachers do spend a lot of time doing such courses, funded from their own private money. The courses include special needs education, literacy and other elements. I am surprised, however, that the Minister is not detailing exactly what she means. I would have thought that most teachers would love to attend such courses but it might not be possible for them to do so.

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