Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 471: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a teacher qualifying from a college (details supplied) in Belfast as a secondary school teacher can take up a job as a resource or remedial teacher in a primary school on a full salary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27115/04]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Secondary trained teachers who have qualified outside the State must register with the registration council which is the statutory body which determines, with the approval of the Minister for Education and Science, the qualification requirements for the purpose of registration as a secondary teacher. Applications for the recognition of qualifications for the purpose of registration are considered by the council at meetings which take place on a periodic basis. In order for the council to assess the suitability of qualifications for teaching purposes, full details of the courses of study pursued must be submitted. If the person to whom the Deputy refers makes contact with the secretariat of the registration council at the offices of my Department in Athlone, he or she will be advised as to how to apply for recognition of the qualifications in question.

Qualifications recognised for the purposes of teaching at second level are not accepted for the purpose of recognition to teach in a permanent capacity in primary schools. At primary level teachers are class teachers, rather than subject specialists, and must be qualified to teach the range of primary school subjects to children aged four to 12 years. To obtain recognition to teach in mainstream primary schools, persons holding qualifications recognised for teaching at second level must undergo a post-graduate primary conversion course.

However, under a temporary scheme currently being operated by my Department to address the shortage of qualified teachers at primary level, teachers holding qualifications recognised for teaching at second level are remunerated at the trained rate of pay when they take up substitute or temporary positions in primary schools. Under this scheme such teachers are eligible for posts as resource teachers for children with special needs in mainstream schools, but are not eligible to hold learning support, remedial, posts in mainstream schools. Remuneration for these posts is on a qualified teacher basis.

Teachers holding qualifications recognised for teaching at second level are also entitled to restricted recognition to teach in special primary schools where a proportion of the pupils attending the special school are of post-primary age, that is, 12 years or older, and where second level programmes are being provided by the school, for example junior certificate elementary programme, leaving certificate applied programme. If appointed to such posts, the teachers concerned are placed on the trained teachers' common basic scale.