Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1097. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the Teaching Council will not fully recognise a special education masters as an appropriate qualification for a special education teacher and are insisting on the primary masters education in addition given the shortage of special education teachers. [41834/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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. 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.

It is the Council’s responsibility to ensure that all teachers entering the profession in Ireland have met the required standards. These standards have been established following extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders, research, and in accordance with Department of Education policies and priorities and developed over a number of years.

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. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 provides that people with special educational needs are educated in an inclusive environment, as far as possible and have the same right to access and benefit from education as children who don’t have these needs.

The Teaching Council as the professional standards body for the teaching profession, sets the standards for programmes of initial teacher education (ITE) and reviews and accredits programmes provided by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the State, based on those standards. All programmes of ITE in Ireland that led to registration must have professional accreditation from the Teaching Council. The standards for programmes of ITE, which were revised in 2020, are published in Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (2020).

Céim includes core elements that ITE programmes must contain, including Inclusive Education: which "includes the fostering of appropriate learning environments, including digital ones, which support the development of student teachers’ ability to provide for the learning needs of all pupils by utilising, for example, a universal design for learning framework." This is intended to provide the foundational competencies teachers will need in order to teach in SEN settings.

There are a number of Graduate and Post-graduate Diplomas in the field of Special Education which are funded by the Department of Education & Youth which can be used to add this sector to a teacher’s registration where the teacher also holds an accredited teacher education qualification.

An important principle of the education system is that all learners are entitled to access the curriculum in accordance with their ability and need, and as such, to the same standard of teaching as all other learners. Department circulars outline the routes of registration that are applicable to schools, including SEN settings and special schools.