David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills, further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 15 and 50 of 7 July 2011, if his attention has been drawn to a situation whereby different persons who are graduates of Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (BE (Civil) Degree) from NUI Cork and who have successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Education have been treated differently by the Teaching Council regarding the recognition of their qualifications and subsequent approval by the Teaching Council to teach mathematics and applied mathematics in second level schools (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22519/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to restate that the Teaching Council is the body with statutory responsibility for the registration of teachers including the recognition of teaching qualifications and neither I nor my Department have a role in this process.

I have made enquiries with the Council regarding their procedures and I understand that the situation is as follows. The Teaching Council assesses applications for registration having regard to set criteria. For the purposes of post primary registration, the Council assesses the transcripts of each individual applicant undergraduate degree to determine if the subject criteria for a post-primary curricular subject have been met.

In assessing degrees in engineering for the purposes of meeting the criteria for Mathematics, the Council examines qualifications transcripts to determine that there is coverage of mathematical content to the order of 54 ECTS credits throughout the degree. The study of mathematics should typically include algebra, analysis, geometry and statistics/probability, all of which are essential in the teaching of Mathematics in Post-primary schools. In assessing degrees for Applied Mathematics, the 54 ECTS of Applied Mathematics should include a major element of Mechanics or Mathematical Physics in addition to less major study in algebra, analysis, geometry and statistics/probability.

The Council has found over recent years that the mathematical content studied by two students on the one programme in engineering can vary based on the modular options chosen by each student in his/her degree. This could result in one of the students meeting the criteria for mathematics where the other does not. In some cases where an applicant has an engineering degree and additional qualifications containing the study of mathematics, he/she may request that the Council assess the combination of two qualifications which may lead to the outcome that combination of the two qualifications meets the subject criteria. It is for these reasons that the Council may appear to recognise qualifications in engineering on a differing basis.