Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. The Council registers teachers under five routes of registration namely, Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher. The minimum registration requirements for each route are set out in the Schedule of the regulations.

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).

Registration under Route 3 (Further Education) of the 2016 Regulations is the route of registration available where an accredited qualification in the primary or post-primary sector 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 (DE) and was subsequently amalgamated into the Council’s Registration Regulations under Route 4. With the making of the 2016 Regulations it has been known that this is being phased out with a clear timeframe for same, which outlines that 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 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 Department 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 Department of Education recognised qualifications in Special Educational Needs as outlined in the DE circular 0044/2019.

The Department understands that there has been engagement between St Nicholas’s Montessori and the Teaching Council to discuss requirements should St Nicholas’s wish to submit an ITE programme to the Council for the purpose of review and accreditation. Any such engagement is subject to the Council’s schedule for programme accreditation, and is a matter for St Nicholas's and the Teaching Council in discharging its statutory functions.