Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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131. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures to be rolled out to ensure the implementation of Children First guidance in schools as provided for in the action plan for education; and if it is intended that all school staff will receive training in Children First. [27632/16]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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132. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans regarding the provision of additional support to the professional development support for teachers, PDST, to support the implementation of Children First in schools as provided for in the action plan for education. [27633/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 131 and 132 together.

In autumn 2011, my Department issued "Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools" based on the "Children First – National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2011”. These procedures apply to all primary and post-primary schools. The purpose of the procedures is to give direction and guidance to school authorities in the implementation of Children First when dealing with allegations/suspicions of child abuse and neglect.

The Deputy will be aware that the Children First Act 2015 will , when fully commenced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs , put elements of the Children First- National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2011) on a statutory footing. The Act provides for a number of key child protection measures such as a requirement on organisations providing services to children to keep children safe and to produce a Child Safeguarding Statement, a requirement on defined categories of persons (mandated persons which includes all registered teachers) to report child protection concerns over a defined threshold to the Child and Family Agency and a requirement on mandated persons to assist the Agency in the assessment of a child protection risk, if requested to do so by the Agency.

Work is currently underway in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in relation to publishing an updated Children First to reflect the Act’s requirements. The commencement of the 2015 Act and the publication of a new Children First will necessitate changes to the existing procedures for schools. In preparation for the forthcoming changes, my Department has recently commenced a review of the existing procedures for schools in consultation with the relevant education partners.

The Professional Development Service for Teachers through its Health and Wellbeing Team will develop a continuing professional development framework to support the implementation of Children First in schools. When the framework is developed the additional supports required to support schools will be considered.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans regarding the introduction of compulsory Children First training in teacher training colleges and for newly qualified teachers as part of their induction training. [27634/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for teaching. The role of the Council is to promote and regulate the teaching profession, including establishing and promoting professional standards and supporting teachers’ learning.

The Teaching Council’s criteria for initial teacher education (ITE) programmes set out, for professional accreditation purposes, learning outcomes that graduates of the programmes are expected to meet, including that they will “practise within the statutory framework pertaining to education, including child protection guidelines” and “demonstrate knowledge and understanding of children’s rights, including their right to a voice in various matters that relate to their lives”. The Council has also adopted School Placement Guidelines as an addendum to its ITE criteria. The Guidelines set out, inter alia, the Council’s expectations of student teachers on placement, including that they will be familiar with the school’s child protection policy, and other relevant policies. 

ITE programmes are accredited by the Council and are the subject of regular review by independent panels established by the Council so as to ensure that standards continue to be met. 

With regard to induction, the Council adopted Droichead as the enhanced induction framework for newly qualified teachers in March of this year. Droichead is, primarily, a school-based model of induction, whereby a new teacher’s learning is supported by experienced colleagues. This allows for national policies, such as Children First, to be mediated within the particular context of the school.

In addition, the National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT), a support service for teachers, provides a Child Protection workshop for both primary and post primary newly qualified teachers (NQTs). This workshop is available in Education Centres to all NQTs completing probation/induction and is also available on the NIPT website (www.teacherinduction.ie).

The Deputy may also wish to note that the Teaching Council this year adopted Cosán, the national framework for teachers’ learning, following the induction phase. Through this framework, the Council has sought to capture the breadth of teachers’ lifelong learning by reference to six high-level learning areas. Two of those, inclusion, and well-being, are particularly pertinent in the context of the Children First Guidelines.