Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the absence of my colleague, Senator Jim D’Arcy who is on Council of Europe business today, I welcome the Minister and the Bill before us. As has been said, the Bill caters for two main overarching aims, namely, underpinning the central role of the Teaching Council in the forthcoming statutory vetting arrangements for registered teachers and amending and strengthening the statutory provisions relating to the Teaching Council's fitness to teach function.

The Bill provides a clear statutory basis for the role of the Teaching Council in the arrangements for vetting registered teachers and improving the workability of those vetting arrangements. That is to be welcomed because we had a ludicrous situation whereby temporary teachers, who were possibly in different schools in different years, had to go through a new vetting procedure every time. It was both cumbersome and unworkable, as well as being a waste of Garda resources.

The Bill also provides a straightforward approach to vetting teachers who have never been vetted previously. It came as a surprise to me that only 60% of the 90,000 teachers on the Teaching Council's register have been vetted. Some 30,000 have not yet been vetted, but I can appreciate that typically they would be permanent teachers who were in the same school prior to the introduction of vetting in 2006.

I welcome the Minister's commitment to ensure that the bulk of those teachers will be vetted within the first year following the commencement of the new legislation.

I also welcome the fact that the statutory arrangements will include a check both for criminal offences and the soft information to which Senator Walsh referred. I would like the Minister to provide some examples of how that will work.

When the Bill is enacted there will be a clear basis for the Teaching Council to require teachers to undergo vetting to deal with any adverse vetting disclosures that may be received. As the Minister said in her speech, removing a teacher from the Teaching Council is the best way of achieving child protection across all recognised schools. We can only look back and wonder what might have been if vetting had been in schools many decades ago, and the amount of trauma that could have been prevented for many vulnerable people.

While discussing fitness to teach arrangements, I wish to acknowledge the teacher's role in society. Teachers have a major influence in shaping young people's lives. We can all clearly recall the positive impact a particular teacher may have had on our own lives as we went through school. We recall that good teachers had an ability to communicate well, were always well respected, and discipline was never an issue in their classes. They had a love of learning and motivated children by engaging them and challenging them. Above all, they had empathy for the weaker student and were alert to issues that such a student may have had to cope with outside the classroom.

As we all know, the kindness of a teacher at a difficult time is never forgotten. The job of a teacher is so important for the future of society that we must ensure teachers are motivated, well trained and receive continuous career development. In that way they will have a long and fulfilling career in education, and their students will get a quality education.

Issues including temporary contracts and hours are on the Minister's desk to be addressed and, hopefully, as the economy improves we will see many more permanent contracts so people will have security of tenure.

The majority of teachers give outstanding service and they work above and beyond the call of duty. Many give generously of their time and talents to extra-curricular activities which are often not appreciated. Senator Walsh mentioned the amount of time that many teachers put into sport, plays, concerts, debates and other school activities.

As in any profession, however, there will be poor performers, professional misconduct or medical unfitness. Teaching is a very demanding job and poor performers and absenteeism can place severe pressure on teaching colleagues. These issues have to be addressed as it is critical that all children are taught in a safe and professional environment where every child has an equal opportunity to get the best possible education.

The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for teaching in Ireland. It promotes and regulates the teaching profession. Fitness to teach must be understood in the context of this particular remit. It is one part of the significant work of the council in pursuing, maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching in our schools. This means that fitness to teach is fundamentally about improving teaching and should not be seen as being about punishing teachers.

The experience of other teaching councils shows that where teachers engage fully and openly with the process, better outcomes for all are achieved. I can appreciate the concerns that have been raised about hearings being held in public. I note that the Minister has decided that hearings will be held in public by default, and that she will be seeking the council's views on how this will be implemented in practice. That is to be welcomed.

I also note the recent Supreme Court decision which means that bodies such as the Teaching Council should only deal with serious issues. This safeguard comes in addition to the provision of the Teaching Council Act, which provides that the director can refuse a complaint that is frivolous or vexatious. That is a real possibility and a real problem. The council's investigating committee also reviews complaints to see if they should be referred to the disciplinary committee.

In the course of her speech the Minister outlined how the process will work and the welcome safeguards that are there for teachers. We want to ensure that teachers are treated fairly, issues are dealt with objectively, and people's civil rights are protected. Issues must be dealt with properly and appropriately. The current disciplinary procedure is inadequate. Boards of management are not equipped to deal with disciplinary issues such as teacher performance or misconduct where dismissal might be warranted. The Teaching Council is the appropriate body to deal with these issues.

I welcome the Bill which, as the Minister said, is about safeguarding children and ensuring all children are educated to the highest standards in a safe and appropriate environment. I commend the Minister on the work she has done. I thank her for the assurances she has given to the teacher unions which had some concerns about certain issues.