Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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246. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason there is no specific special education teacher category to register under the Teaching Council. [35544/18]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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247. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a level 8 in Montessori from a college (details supplied) is recognised by the Teaching Council as a qualification to register as a special educational needs teacher under the category of Montessori and other but a level 8 in early years teaching and learning from Maynooth University and level 9 qualifications from both DCU and UCD specific to this category are not. [35545/18]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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248. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the Teaching Council last reviewed the policies concerning the criteria that deems a person suitable to be a special education teacher. [35546/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 246 to 248, inclusive, together.

All initial teacher education programmes in Ireland that lead to registration must have professional accreditation from the Teaching Council. The Teaching Council's (Registration) Regulations 2016 set out the routes under which teachers are eligible to apply for registration. A degree in Early Childhood Teaching and Learning, while valuable, is not an accredited course nor does it meet the registration requirements under Route 4 Other of the Teaching Council Registration Regulations 2016 (formerly Regulation 3 Montessori and Other Categories of the 2009 Regulations).

Under the Council’s criteria for initial teacher education (revised in March 2017), student teachers in all accredited programmes are required to undertake study in Inclusive Education (Special Education, Multiculturalism, Disadvantage, etc.) as mandatory areas.

Registration under Route 3 (Further Education) of the 2016 Regulations is the only route to registration available where an accredited qualification is not held. Applicants who apply under this route must hold a degree qualification but are not initially required to hold a teacher education qualification (TEQ). A relevant TEQ is required under Route 3. However applicants who meet the degree qualification requirements and who have not completed an accredited TEQ are eligible for conditional registration for a period of three years in which time this requirement must be completed.

The St. Nicholas Montessori College degree in Montessori Education has long standing recognition with the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and was subsequently amalgamated into the Council’s Registration Regulations. This is being phased out. Under the 2016 Regulations, the qualification is only acceptable for registration under Route 4 Other where the application is made on or before 31 December 2023.

There are a number of Graduate and Post-graduate Diplomas in the field of Special Education which are approved by the Department of Education and Skills and can be used to add this sector to a teacher’s registration where the teacher also holds an accredited Primary teacher education qualification. The Teaching Council works within DES policy and central to this policy is that all teachers teaching children with Special Educational Needs should be qualified Primary or Post-primary teachers in the first instance and may then apply for one of the DES recognised qualifications in Special Educational Needs as outlined in the DES circular 0004/2018.