Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the State.

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.

The Teaching Council can confirm that an ezine was issued to all registered teachers on 5 January 2023 notifying of an amendment to the Registration Regulations. An email was also issued to the UK HEI’s in March 2023 outlining all of the eligibility and qualification requirements so she may have received information via that route also.

All relevant communications, including direct correspondence, website and application documents, referenced eligibility requirements and would not have committed to automatic eligibility for any qualification.

This amendment provided for, on a time bound basis, primary and post primary teacher who qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland to apply for registration and complete, their induction here in Ireland, subject to meeting eligibility and qualifications requirements.

The amendment Regulation closed to applications on 1 February 2024.

A link to the eligibility requirements was also provided in the ezine on 5 January 2023 which stated the following:

1. Qualified Teacher status (or equivalent)

You must:

• Have qualified as a teacher outside of the Republic of Ireland and gained qualified teacher status or equivalent (licence to teach), and
• Completed an accredited programme of initial teacher education in the country where you qualified.

2(a). Qualification requirements – primary applicants

If applying for primary registration, you must have a primary teacher education qualification aimed at 4 to 12 year olds which is comparable to the standard of Irish graduates.

Irish Language Requirement

Irish language requirement (ILR) will be applied as a condition to your registration. You may be registered on a conditional basis for three years.

The Irish language requirement (ILR) can be completed in one of two ways:

• Doing an aptitude test (module/ course of study). This includes attending the Gaeltacht (Irish language region) for a period of time.
• Teaching in the area of the shortfall (adaptation period)

You can find more information at ilrweb.ie

In all communications pertaining to the Teaching Council (Registration) (Amendment) Regulation 2023, it was outlined that registration under this regulation was subject to meeting eligibility and qualifications requirements as outlined above.

As the Teaching Council (Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 has now closed, applications for registration under Route 1 (Primary) should be made via the standard pathway for registration for teachers who are awarded their teaching qualification outside of the Republic of Ireland. To be eligible for registration under the standard pathway, applicants must be fully qualified, i.e., have been awarded a teaching qualification, have a licence to teach (QTS in England) and have completed a period of induction in the country where they qualified.

All applications from teachers who qualified abroad are processed in line with EU Directive 2005/36/EC and the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016.

The Council is considering any further amendment in the context of its legislative framework, including relevant EU legislation. Any updates in this regard will be published on the Teaching Council website www.teachingcouncil.ie