Results 4,841-4,860 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I understand that.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am just pointing out that 22 of the 37 members of the Teaching Council are teachers. I wish to make it clear that no case will proceed to a hearing without going through several screening stages which are designed to ensure the complaint merits a full disciplinary hearing. That is clearly provided for. It is a matter of deciding where the balance should lie between default public or...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is not what the Bill is about at all. The Bill is about the Teaching Council and its specific role with regard to fitness to practice and vetting. It has nothing to do with the celebration of teachers because the vast majority of teachers do a great job. This relates to a tiny minority of teachers who are causing concern and who may come to the attention of the Teaching Council and...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The vast majority of teachers do a great job. I have said that in many places where I have spoken publicly. This is simply about the regulation of the profession, which we have in other professions such as the medical profession. In the tiny minority of cases where there is a problem, a process will be in place by the Teaching Council. The council was set up to ensure we support teachers...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is the case, Deputy Coppinger. This only concerns cases that are brought to investigation. It will only apply in cases where it is appropriate that they would be brought to investigation. There are then a number of stages to the fitness to teach process within the Teaching Council before it would get to a hearing. It would not get to a hearing unless it was sufficiently serious. I...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Will get to the point of a hearing is what I said.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I do not have anything to add except to say again that case law such as the Corbally case will be available to the Teaching Council in terms of any cases which comes before it to be investigated. As I say, proceeding to a hearing is a different matter in terms of going through the processes within the Teaching Council.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We are talking here about the decision as to whether a case will be investigated. The question of whether to include an additional descriptor in the provision to the effect that professional misconduct or poor professional performance must be "serious" before a complaint against a teacher can be investigated was fully considered during the drafting of the legislation. Legal advice was...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: It will be from the start of the next school year. I was in a school in County Offaly some days ago and I met a teacher there. He specifically told me that he would benefit from this because he would get his contract of indefinite duration from September, and otherwise he would not have got it. It will be in place from the next school year. I wish to address some of the other issues....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: This concerns what regulations the council may make. The Teaching Council Acts of 2001 to 2012 provide that the council may make regulations to require a teacher to satisfactorily complete a programme of continuing professional development accredited by the council as a condition of renewing registration. Section 39 of the Teaching Council Act, which has not been commenced, enables the...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: This is an enabling provision and it would be by way of a regulation that would have to be approved by the Minister. It is not something that is coming in tomorrow, but it is under discussion and consultation through the Teaching Council. In my experience, teachers do engage in continuous professional development, CPD and seek it. I agree with Deputy Coppinger on that. At primary level...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Act to which I referred was introduced in 2005. It is, therefore, relatively recent. If we were to substitute the word "qualified", the Teaching Council would only investigate whether an applicant was qualified, whereas it needs to ensure he or she has been vetted and deemed appropriate to work with children.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The word "qualified", as proposed by the Deputy, would not necessarily mean the applicant was fit, proper or suitable. I am not accepting the amendments.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As I explained, teachers are reminded of their obligation to register. If they do not renew their registration, they are reminded again. There are checks and balances and repeated reminders. While I appreciate that teachers, like the rest of us, endure many pressures, the Teaching Council issues plenty of reminders. As I said, given that the council is not the body that pays teachers'...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I agree with one thing the Deputy said. We do not want teachers to be homogenous and all conform exactly to some picture of what somebody else might think a teacher should be. We have all had great teachers who were different in many ways. The wording states teachers should be fit and proper to be admitted to the register. The word "proper" is not used in the sense of somebody being prim...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Order for Report Stage (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Before I deal with amendment No. 1, I wish to make the House aware that there is a number of matters on which I am considering amendments. They are largely by way of further technical changes or amendments designed to bring further coherence to the overall approach to registration, fitness to teach and vetting throughout the Act. I intend to progress them on Committee Stage in the Seanad...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 and 191 together. Information on average primary school class size and pupil teacher ratio is currently being finalised and will be published as part of my Department's Key Statistics Report 2014/2015. This report will be available on my Department's website at the following link at the end of June:

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Provisional data on the number of pupils in classes of 30 or more for the 2014/2015 school year is available by individual primary school on my Department's website at the following link - . This list includes the county council of the school. Final data in relation to the 2014/15 school year will be published later in the current school year.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The purpose of the Home Tuition Scheme is to provide compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme also provides a compensatory educational service for children with special educational needs seeking an educational placement and provision is made for early educational intervention for children with...