Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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374. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason pre-schools are precluded from registering for etwinning (details supplied); his plans to review this policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20490/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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eTwinning is a free online platform linking a community of teachers across Europe. It supports schools to find partners and work on joint projects in any curricular area, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Léargas is the National Support Service for eTwinning in Ireland.

Léargas has a responsibility to ensure that anyone registering on eTwinning are teachers to ensure child protection and safeguarding, as well as their relevance to the eTwinning platform. This is done by checking the school roll number and whether they are registered on the Teaching Council register.

Currently, there is no central system to register early years practitioners and future consideration of this is within the remit of my colleague in Government, the Minister of Children and Youth Affairs.  If this is in place, Léargas will look at, in consultation with relevant departments, a process for practitioners to participate in etwinning.