Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the background and rationale for advising a home economics teacher currently working in a secondary school in Louth (details supplied), and who previously worked as a teacher in the same subject in the North of Ireland for 19 years, as to why she must complete skills training and assessment in order to get fully registered with the Teaching Council; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14465/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. As set out in the Schedule of the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher.

As a statutory professional standards body, the Teaching Council is required by law, under the Teaching Council Acts (s7(2)) to act as the competent authority for recognition of qualifications obtained by a person who has applied under this Act for registration as a teacher. One of the ways the Council ensures and regulates standards is by ensuring that all teachers entering the profession in the Republic of Ireland have met the required standards. A person who has completed teacher education qualifications outside the State and is seeking to register with the Teaching Council must have their qualifications assessed to determine that they are comparable and equivalent to accredited qualifications in Ireland. This operates in line with EU Directive 2005/36/EC, which sees all applications from teachers who qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland processed individually and in the same manner, regardless of whether they qualified within or outside the EU.

The qualifications of these teachers are assessed on an individual and holistic basis for the purposes of registering as a teacher. Qualifications are assessed for comparability with graduates of initial teacher education programmes accredited by the Teaching Council.

In line with the EU Directive 2005/36/EC, the qualifications of teachers who qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland (ROI) are assessed prior to registration to ensure they are of a comparable standard to those achieved by graduates of accredited programmes in Ireland. Where significant differences arise, conditions (qualification shortfalls) are applied to a teacher’s registration. Teachers have three years from the date of conditional registration to address conditions via an aptitude test or an adaptation period.

The Teaching Council is the regulator of the teaching profession in Ireland. Their role is to protect the public by promoting and regulating professional standards in teaching. They do this through the statutory registration of teachers, ensuring a highly qualified teaching profession, whose members meet and uphold high standards of professional competence and conduct.