Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Is trua nach bhfuil an tAire Oideachais agus Scileanna anseo ach cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ag an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta, Deputy Joe McHugh. I tabled this matter to ask the Minister for Education and Skills to facilitate the continuation of restricted recognition for graduates in Montessori education, as currently permitted under regulation 3 of the Teaching Council Acts. This affects approximately 100 graduates per year between St. Nicholas Montessori College and Cork Institute of Technology. As the regulation has been in place since 2005, up to 1,000 of these graduates have level 8 degrees. Graduates with level 8 qualifications in Montessori education are currently afforded restricted recognition. They may be appointed to teaching positions in special education settings in primary schools and special schools. The numbers registering under this provision amount to 1% of annual registrants, or approximately 110 teachers.

If the proposed removal of regulation 3 is allowed they will not be able to secure any form of recognition from the Teaching Council because in the absence of a Teaching Council registration number, a graduate with a four-year, level 8 degree cannot be appointed to a primary school or a special school. These graduates are in the Minister of State's county of Donegal as well as my county of Galway. The Department of Education and Skills will not pay any person in a teaching capacity who does not have a Teaching Council registration number. I understand the Teaching Council is advising the Minister to sign an order that will withdraw registration for these Montessori teaching graduates.If the proposed removal of regulation 3 is allowed, the only current role within the education setting available to level 8 graduates would then be as special needs assistants. There is a big difference between being a teacher and being a special needs assistant in a special school. As the Minister of State knows that is in a particular care setting. The opportunity for Montessori graduates to practise the pedagogical foundations acquired under the four years of higher education could not then be exercised. It is an appalling vista for people who have invested in a four-year degree. Furthermore, it is a downgrading of early years education and the Minister should not do this.

Graduates and providers of level 8 Montessori programmes are seeking the retention of the existing registration process. In other words they want it left alone. The Montessori pedagogy is recognised as having a unique role in assisting children with special needs. The 141 special schools would bear the brunt of this decision if it proceeds, which is fairly serious. The children would lose access to teaching resources, human resources with a set of skills designed to assist their personal and educational development.

I recently met a qualified second level teacher who has Teaching Council registration. However, it was her Montessori qualification that gave her an opportunity to get a particular role working with three children with extreme needs.

Research by Banks et al.in 2014 suggests that up to 25% of children in the educational system have special educational needs. While the spectrum of the resources to address their needs will vary, statistics available from the NCSE and the Department of Education and Skills confirm that over recent years the allocation of resources has increased by an average of 6.5% annually. Importantly there has been no evidence that the low-entry requirement, which is often cited as a basis for differentiation for Montessori graduates, has impacted on the quality of the provision for pupils with special educational needs - if anything it has improved them.

The Minister has made a very strong commitment to the early years sector, which has been backed up by very positive action. Montessori graduates want to play their part in helping the Minister to realise her vision. However, if the Teaching Council proposal is allowed to proceed in its current format, it will send a message to those teachers and educators in early years settings that they are not part of the education profession. Rather than building on her initiative it will detract and demotivate the very persons we rely on for the continuum of education from birth to six years and into the special needs sector as well.

Knowing the Minister's commitment to early years education, the Minister should not be the Minister to sign off on this regulation. The required amendments allow for the implementation of Part 5 of the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2012 to proceed without abolishing the current provision under regulation 3. I accept the role of the Teaching Council inter aliais to provide advice and guidance to the Minister, but in this instance the Minister has the authority to reject this. I am asking the Minister of State to convey this concern to the Minister for Education and Skills so that the qualifications and standing of our Montessori teachers, who have restricted access and restricted recognition to teach in our primary schools in special education and the early years setting, are not affected.