Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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249. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to set out the status of the Teaching Council's review of the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2009 under the Teaching Council Acts; if draft regulations have been submitted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9382/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Since 2006, the Teaching Council is the body with statutory responsibility and authority for regulation of the teaching profession, including the registration of teachers under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015.

It is Department policy that all students are entitled to be taught first and foremost by fully qualified, registered teachers.

Lengthening and reconfiguring the programmes of initial teacher education is a key component of the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020. These changes were incorporated into the Teaching Council's Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education, which set the criteria for providers of initial teacher education.

Accordingly, revised Teaching Council registration regulations are required to provide for the registration of graduates of the 59 reconfigured programmes of initial teacher education which are now accredited by the Council, and the policy that teachers should be fully qualified to teach. The revised regulations will also give effect to changes made in the Teaching Council (Amendment) Act 2015, such as the placing of the garda vetting of new teachers on a statutory footing.

I expect that the revised regulations will be finalised by the Council and provided for my consent in the coming weeks.