Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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208. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the scheme for awarding incremental credit to secondary school teachers for relevant experience in a non-teaching role; if she can provide guidance on what constitutes relevant work; if she will list the type of work which could be considered relevant for a teacher of home economics; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29003/23]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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209. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the scheme for awarding incremental credit to secondary school teachers for relevant experience in a non-teaching role; if she can confirm if work with children of secondary school age who have challenging behaviours and who are dealing with issues such as recovery from drug addiction and who have been mentored by the teacher seeking credit can be included in the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29004/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 208 and 209 together.

The criteria for the award of incremental credit to post primary teachers are set out in my Department’s Circulars, 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC). Circular 29/2007 is the relevant circular here.

Circular 29/2007 requires the teacher to demonstrate that their previous non-teaching service is relevant to their role as a teacher. Furthermore this circular requires my Department to be satisfied that this previous relevant non-teaching experience is directly relevant to the post to which the teacher is appointed. Therefore with regard to the specific examples to which the Deputy refers, my Department must ensure that there is direct relevance to the role of (i) a home economics teacher and (ii) a teacher who is teaching students with challenging behaviours.

Should this previous relevant non-teaching service have taken place before the teacher qualifies as a teacher, and is deemed to be relevant to teaching, this service may be considered for the award of incremental credit. If it can be established satisfactorily that some of the duties carried out have relevance to the subject area(s) in which a teacher is recognised, credit may be awarded on a pro-rata basis.

A teacher may appeal to the Post Primary Independent Incremental Credit Appeals Committee if their application for an award of incremental credit application with respect of previous non-teaching service is limited or refused. This independent Committee is comprised of an independent chairperson, a TUI representative, an ASTI representative, representative of school management and two officers of my Department.