LEGISLATION to establish a new self-regulating Teaching Council, which will set and maintain professional standards for first and second-level teachers, will be published within the next few weeks.
This was announced yesterday by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Martin, at the publication of the report of a steering committee set up to advise him on the establishment of such a council. The report outlines a timetable leading to the first meeting in January 2000 of the council, which will have 22 elected teacher members and 15 nominees.
The council would take over the role of the Teacher Registration Council by maintaining a register of all teachers; determine the qualifications necessary for registration; draw up codes of professional practice; and investigate and, where appropriate, apply sanctions in cases of professional misconduct. Its functions would be broadly comparable to the Medical Council.
Where teachers are alleged to have "failed to meet acceptable levels of practice", the council's investigative and disciplinary committees will be "empowered to investigate and adjudicate", the report says.
However, the chairman of the steering committee, Dr Seamus McGuinness of TCD's education department, stressed that the council would not interfere with existing employee-employer relations or structures in education.
If there was a disciplinary problem involving a teacher it would be referred first to the school's board of management, and if the problem persisted, only then to the Teaching Council.
The experience of similar teaching councils in Scotland and Canada is that a teacher is only "deregistered" for extreme misconduct, such as sexual or physical abuse or gross alcohol abuse.
Mr Martin said the establishment of a Teaching Council would mark "an essential step towards the recognition of teaching as a fully-fledged profession".