Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the Second Stage of the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012. Before I turn to a detailed explanation of the provisions of the Bill, I will explain its background. As Senators may be aware, a previous edition of this Bill, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 was brought before the Dáil in October 2010 by my predecessor, Mary Coughlan. That Bill never passed Committee Stage and so never received attention from the 23rd Seanad. Upon becoming Minister for Education and Skills last March, I asked my Department to set about resurrecting that legislation with some changes. The Bill before the House thus carries on the most of the technical, housekeeping parts of the 2010 Bill, but also reflects the changed priorities of the current Government for our education system.

Perhaps the biggest change to the Bill before the House is that it no longer provides for the involvement of vocational education committees in the provision of primary education. As an Opposition Deputy in 2010, I was of the view that the manner in which the Department of Education and Skills introduced a new pilot form of community national school at primary level, while welcome, should only have been done following consideration of the matter by a forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary school sector.

One of my first acts as Minister for Education and Skills was to establish that forum and I expect that its final report and recommendations will be published shortly. However, the House may be aware that the advisory group to the forum on patronage presented its initial reflections last November and indicated that it is broadly supportive of the continuation of the community national school model. As a result, I believe it will be necessary to provide this patronage model with a statutory footing in the near future.

Separately, I have also commenced a major reform of the vocational education committees. My intention is to reduce the number of VEC committees from 33 to 16 and to reform them into what they actually are - local education and training boards. This reform will require separate legislation and provides an opportunity for the Oireachtas to pass one consolidated Bill dealing with every aspect of VEC education to replace nine VEC Bills and a host of statutory instruments. That will be a more appropriate place in which to put, on a statutory footing, the arrangements for the establishment and running of primary schools by the successors to VECs. It is the Government's intention to make progress in this regard before the end of the year.

The Education Amendment Bill 2012 provides for the amendment of the Education Act 1998 and the amendment of the Teaching Council Act 2001 in a number of education matters. These include: clarification on the delivery of speech therapy services to students; the abolition of the educational disadvantage committee; revised procedures for the appointment, suspension, dismissal and remuneration of teachers and other staff; arrangements for the employment, in certain exceptional and limited circumstances, of persons who are not registered teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001; and provision for the Teaching Council to make regulations to apply certain conditions to the renewal of registration of teachers.

The Bill also provides for the repeal of the Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund Act 1997 and the Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund (Amendment) Act 1998. These are all matters that require to be dealt with in primary legislation and I am pleased to be able to begin that process today.

Sections 1 to 3 of the Bill contain the standard provisions for the Short Title and collective citations, interpretation and expenses. Section 4 provides for three amendments to definitions contained in section 2(1) of the Education Act 1998. The definition of "educational disadvantage" is amended in section 4(a) as a result of the repeal of section 32 of the Education Act 1998 which is provided for in section 7 of the Bill. This section also provides for the substitution of the definition of "principal" to take account of the changes to appointment procedures proposed within this Bill. Section 4 also provides for the amendment of the definition of "support services" in section 7 of the Education Act 1998 in order to clarify the position on delivery of speech therapy services and other health and personal services to students of schoolgoing age. The Education Act 1998 lists the planning and co-ordination of support services, including speech therapy services, as a function of the Minister for Education and Science. While there is agreement at policy level that the HSE will continue to provide such services, the proposed amendments of the Education Act 1998 are necessary to clarify the position of the delivery of speech therapy services to students of school-going age. The legislative framework will be regularised in accordance with the de facto position, which is that the provision of speech therapy services is a matter for the HSE. This position is already acknowledged by the Oireachtas through the provision of voted moneys to the HSE to deliver such services. The HSE provides health supports including speech and language therapy and occupational therapy to children. In some instances such therapy services are delivered in schools and the proposed amendment will not change the existing position. The proposed provisions will not impact on the availability of speech therapy services for children with special educational needs through the HSE.

The Department's commitment to support the co-ordinated delivery of services to families of children with special educational needs is not diminished. The Department will continue to work with its partners in the health and disability sectors through the vehicle of the cross-sectoral team established under the auspices of the office of the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, equality and mental health and the national disability strategy stakeholder monitoring group. This provision gives rise to a consequential technical amendment to repeal sections 7(5) and 7(6) of the 1998 Act, as inserted by section 40 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. This is provided for in section 5.

Section 6 provides for a revised text of sections 23 and 24 of the Education Act 1998 which provided for the appointment, suspension, dismissal and payment of teachers, including principal teachers and other staff, in accordance with procedures put in place by the Minister following agreement with the education partners. By requiring agreement as distinct from consultation in respect of appointment, suspension and dismissal matters affecting teachers the existing legislation creates a significant obstacle to change. The Department's well-established approach of consulting and, wherever possible, securing agreement with stakeholders for change will continue to be used and existing mechanisms will not be displaced. However, there are existing agreements on the suspension and dismissal of teachers that will continue to apply. It is necessary to retain a power to be used as an emergency measure where, despite our best efforts, agreement cannot be reached to ensure that change can be effected in the public interest. This is provided for by the new section 24(3).

The new section 24(5) of the Education Act provides for the redeployment of teachers and other school staff in accordance with redeployment procedures determined by the Minister of the day with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform following consultation with stakeholders. A person redeployed under these procedures will become an employee of the board of management or VEC to which he or she has been redeployed. While having fully efficient and effective teacher redeployment arrangements has always been an objective of the Department, it has assumed a critical dimension in the context of the EU-IMF framework. This is because of the ceiling on numbers under the employment control framework, ECF, and the imperative of staying within that limit. We also have obligations under the Croke Park agreement on redeployment. As with disciplinary matters, my policy is to reach agreement on redeployment matters. The power to determine should be an instrument of last resort. Ultimately, however, I need a measure that enables me to ensure that redeployment is not delayed or prevented in general or individual cases. The new provisions can make a positive contribution to ensuring that agreements can be reached with managers and patrons.

This section also makes provision for the employment, in certain exceptional and limited circumstances, of persons who are not registered teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001. Since the economic crisis began employment for teachers has become increasingly difficult because of recruitment embargoes and changes to pupil-teacher ratios. This is especially the case for young teachers who have just graduated from teacher training colleges and who cannot secure full-time work. Last Easter, I spoke at the INTO annual conference in Sligo and I noted the concerns of many young teachers who took the view that retired or unqualified teachers were being recruited ahead of them. There is a widespread belief that this makes it harder for teachers, especially young teachers, to gain the necessary experience and that it contributes to high unemployment rates among newly qualified teachers.

Unlike the last Government, I listened to these concerns and reflected upon them carefully. Last May, I announced new rules to ensure schools employ only appropriately qualified and registered teachers. For the first time, the Department has set out tight restrictions on the singularly limited circumstances in which it may be necessary to engage an unregistered person where otherwise a school would have to close or send pupils home. The new restrictions strike a balance between the interests of students, giving newly qualified unemployed teachers employment opportunities and meeting the short-term staffing needs of individual schools. The changes I have made will ensure that this happens and that there will be transparency for the school management and the Department to verify it. In this context, section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001, which has not yet been commenced, provides that only registered teachers can be remunerated out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. Rather than amending section 30 of the Teaching Council Act which provides for the requirement for publicly paid teachers to be registered, this provision has been included in section 24 of the Education Act 1998 instead.

Section 24 of the 1998 Act deals with employment matters relating to teachers and is accordingly a more appropriate locus for this provision. While it remains my aim that all teachers in schools be registered with the council and therefore fully qualified, it is apparent that to commence section 30 as it stands would have a serious negative impact for a small number of schools in which, in specific circumstances, unqualified personnel are required in the short term. I doubt that anyone wishes to bring about a situation whereby legislation is overly cumbersome and forces schools to close unnecessarily. This situation may arise where, for example, a teacher falls ill in a small rural school and no registered teacher is available at short notice. In such a case provision must be made for the payment of the person acting in lieu of a teacher for a restricted period to prevent closure at little or no notice with the associated disruption for pupils and parents, especially since in many cases both parents are working outside the home. I emphasise that a balance must be struck between the interests of students, giving newly qualified unemployed teachers employment opportunities and meeting the short-term staffing needs of individual schools. I believe the circular published last May and the changes contained in the Bill achieve this aim.

To date the use of unqualified personnel has been unregulated. The proposed amendment to the Education Act 1998 is necessary to allow the Minister for Education and Skills to regulate for the first time and in a measured way the use of unregistered personnel in exceptional and limited circumstances. The overarching aim of protecting the standards of education for students remains and the impact of this amendment is to strike a balance between the rights of students to be taught by registered teachers and the need for individual schools to deal with short-term difficulties.

The move to mandatory registration of teachers will be an important factor in progressively ensuring a fully-qualified and registered teaching cohort. However, the reality facing schools is that it is not always possible to engage a registered teacher, especially at short notice. This may be because of geographical reasons or the lack of availability of teachers of particular subjects at a given time. This reality exists despite the maintenance of a high level of output of graduates and it is important that provision is made for the exceptional and limited circumstances in which the use of unregistered people may be necessary.

Section 7 provides for the repeal of section 32 of the Education Act 1998 and thereby abolishes the educational disadvantage committee. That committee concluded its work in 2005 and is no longer required since the establishment of DEIS. The abolition of the committee was included in the budget of 2009 as a measure for the rationalisation of agencies. The absence of the EDC has not adversely impacted upon the Department's commitment to ongoing consultation on educational disadvantage and the wider social inclusion agenda. The implementation and evaluation of DEIS has been continuously supported by ongoing consultation with education partners and stakeholders. I should emphasise that educational disadvantage remains a priority for both the Government and the Department and we will continue to provide a structured and targeted approach to dealing with educational disadvantage.

Section 8provides for a procedural amendment of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 to cross reference the amendment of section 24 of the Education Act 1998 as provided for in section 6 of the Bill and as outlined earlier. Section 30 of the 2001 Act has not yet been commenced.

Section 9 provides for the amendment of section 33 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 to allow the Teaching Council to apply some level of conditionality on renewal of registration by teachers. This is an important development. As it stands, section 33 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 requires only that a registered teacher pay the requisite annual fee in order to maintain registration status. However, it is desirable to make provision for certain conditions to be fulfilled by registered teachers in order to renew their annual registration. The amendment to section 33 will allow the Teaching Council to make regulations to impose such conditions. Apart from conditions such as the form and manner in which an application for renewal is made and the documentary and other evidence required to be submitted with the application, the council may apply conditions such as the completion of programmes of continuing education and training and evidence of character, such as Garda clearance and teaching experience.

This amendment therefore provides for progression to a more robustly regulated profession and the furtherance of the objective of maintaining and improving teaching standards. As many Members of the Houses will be aware, such qualitative conditions are already the norm in other professions, and there is no reason the teaching profession should be any different. This amendment is an enabling one and before the council can make any such regulations, my consent, as Minister for Education and Skills, will be required. Should the Council propose regulations, they would be considered by my Department in light of their potential benefit to the education system, the burden that would be placed on individual teachers and resource implications.

Section 10 provides for the amendment of section 38 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 in order to clarify a function of the Teaching Council with regard to programmes of teacher education and training provided by institutions of higher education and training. Currently, section 38(a) states that "the Council shall, from time to time, (a) review and accredit programmes of teacher education and training". This may be interpreted as requiring the council to accredit all of the programmes which it reviews. For the avoidance of doubt, the Bill contains a provision to allow the council to accredit programmes where it is appropriate to do so. The council reviews new programmes which are presented to it for first accreditation as well as existing programmes. A number of reviews of existing programmes have already taken place. In all cases, the council has produced detailed reports, which include a number of recommendations aimed at improving the programmes of study in question. These have been accepted and are being acted upon by the providers in question. However, should the council determine that either a new programme or an existing one is not up to the high standard that is required of an initial teacher education programme, I want there to be no doubt that the council has the authority not to provide accreditation for that programme if that is the right thing to do.

Section 11provides for the repeal of the Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund Act 1997 and the Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund (Amendment) Act 1998 as the fund has now been fully spent and the provisions of the Acts are no longer required. The Acts are being repealed in order to end the requirement for the production of annual reports and accounts for a fund which is now defunct. The Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund Act 1997 made financial resources available for the provision of education and vocational training in the fields of science and technology through a scientific and technological education investment fund. The fund was disbursed by the Department of Education and Skills over the years 1998 to 2010.

I look forward to listening to the views of Senators today and to further debate as the Bill progresses through the Houses of the Oireachtas. I commend the Bill to the House.