Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the specific training teachers in special needs units are required to have to teach. [11585/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It has been the policy of my Department for some time that only qualified and registered teachers should be employed by schools. This is set out in Circular Letters 31/2011 and 0025/2013.

Current recruitment procedures direct schools to ensure that teachers proposed for appointment to publicly paid posts must be registered with the Teaching Council and have qualifications appropriate to the sector and suitable to the post, including posts in Special Classes, for which they are proposed.

It is a matter for school authorities to employ teachers in accordance with the Department's policy in this regard and the deployment of teaching staff in the school is in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities.

Teachers can access additional continuous professional development through a number of means including the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) which offers professional learning opportunities to teachers and school leaders in a range of pedagogical, curricular and educational areas.

In addition, the Special Educational Support Service (SESS) aims to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in relation to special educational provision. The service co-ordinates, develops and delivers a range of professional development initiatives and support structures for school personnel working with students with special educational needs in mainstream primary and post-primary schools, special schools and special classes.