Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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426. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline his plans to enable teachers in appropriate special education settings, resource and special class, to have their probation completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1449/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Teaching Council is the statutory body with responsibility for professional standards at all stages of the teaching career. It has established standards for post-qualification professional practice, as set out in Droichead, the new model of induction and probation for newly qualified primary and post-primary teachers.  The Droichead programme was the subject of a three-year pilot before it was approved by the Council in March 2016. The programme is being introduced on a phased basis since last September.

During the growth and development phase of Droichead, teachers employed in a special education or restricted setting must avail of the Droichead programme to achieve full registration with the Council.  While a new policy on teacher probation was adopted by the Teaching Council last December, this does not change the requirement for teachers in a special education setting to avail of Droichead.

The INTO issued a directive to its members not to co-operate with or participate in Droichead from 1 July 2016. This directive has prevented newly qualified teachers employed in special education settings from participating in Droichead since September and thereby closed off the registration pathway. I hope the INTO will review its approach.

My Department is also considering the impact of the new policy adopted by the Teaching Council.