Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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169. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reinstate the previous routes which were available to people, such as teaching assistants already working in education, to allow them to become fully qualified teachers under route 4; and what can be done about the practice of educational institutions preying on the opacity of the teaching council registration system to sell enrolments on courses which do not actually qualify their students for registration under any route. [22108/25]

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.

It is a function of the Council 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.

The Teaching Council register 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 to properly determine and to authenticate the relevant standards and qualifications of all applicants for registration. 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.

Route 4 formerly provided for applicants who had obtained the level 8 Bachelor of Education in Montessori Education from St Nicholas Montessori College, which was commenced on or before 1 October 2018 and completed on or before 31 December 2023, to apply for registration up until 31 December 2023. It had been known that this is being phased out with a clear timeframe for same. This provision which was subject to extensive consultation with all relevant stakeholders is now closed.

Applications under Route 4 – Other (Qualified outside the Republic of Ireland) will continue be assessed by the Teaching Council to ensure that they meet the requirements for Special Educational Needs (SEN) teaching in Ireland.

The Teaching Council works within Department policy and central to this policy is that all teachers teaching children with SEN 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 SEN as outlined in Circular 0044/2019. There are a number of Graduate and Post-graduate Diplomas in the field of Special Education which are approved by the Department and can be used to add this sector to a teacher’s registration where the teacher also holds an accredited teacher education qualification.

In relation to your query on educational institutions and the courses that they offer, all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes that lead to teacher registration, must satisfy the Teaching Council accreditation requirements. The Teaching Council’s Initial Teacher Education: Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers (Criteria and Guidelines) set out the standard for all ITE programmes accredited between 2011 and 2020. All ITE programmes must also have academic accreditation from the relevant HEI or awarding body. There is a list of all programmes of initial teacher education that have been accredited by the Teaching Council on their website at Accredited Programmes | Professional Learning | The Teaching Council

It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that the qualifications awarded are eligible for the purposes of registration, prior to commencing any course. The detailed requirements for registration are set out in the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. The students referred to in your query should engage with the course provider in relation to any issues that they may have regarding their qualification.

The Teaching Council is independent in their registration function and neither I nor the Department have any role is this regard.