Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the annual cost to his Department over the past ten years to probate newly qualified teachers at primary level; if he will provide a breakdown of the figures involved and the number of probations involved per year. [15552/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The number of primary teachers recorded as having completed probation each year over the past ten years is as follows:

2011 - 2088

2010 - 1633

2009 - 1893

2008 - 2311

2007 - 2221

2006 - 2087

2005 - 1454

2004 - 1499

2003 - 1380

2002 - 1196

Since the Inspectorate is part of the Department of Education and Skills, all costs associated with its work are paid from the administrative budget of the Department and costs exclusively associated with probation evaluations are not recorded separately from the other inspection or policy development work of the Inspectorate. Accordingly it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs of the probation evaluations conducted in respect of the teachers probated in the ten-year period between 2002 and 2011.

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 175: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the year inspectors from his Department first started doing inspections as part of the probation of newly qualified teachers at primary level. [15553/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The very close engagement of inspectors with the quality of teaching in primary schools is practically as old as the national school system itself. Inspectors have had a role in the evaluation of teachers appointed in primary schools since the first inspectors were appointed in 1832.

Inspection models have evolved very significantly since 1832 as has the legal basis for the probation of newly qualified teachers. Access to the profession of teaching in recognised schools in Ireland is now regulated by the Teaching Council. At present, the Inspectorate of my Department evaluates the professional competence of primary teachers for the purposes of informing the Teaching Council's decisions regarding registration. Further development in this area is ongoing, with the Council currently working on the development of a Career Entry Professional Programme (CEPP) for newly qualified teachers wishing to be fully registered with the Council, in compliance with sections 7(2) (f) and (g) of the Teaching Council Act, 2001.