The Teaching Council has published its strategic plan for the five-year period, 2022 to 2027. The plan sets out the Council’s strategic goals in relation to its statutory role in upholding standards and promoting the continuing excellence of the teaching profession in Ireland.
Teaching Council Strategic Plan 2022-2027
The plan follows extensive consultation with a wide community of stakeholders in education and builds further on previous multi-annual plans to date. It sets out four strategic goals across the ongoing development and enhancement of teacher registration and supply, the creation of collaborative professional communities of teaching and learning, the continuing regulatory functions of the Council and the promotion of sustainable ways of working.
This plan sees the completion of the growth phase of Droichead, the integrated professional induction framework for newly qualified teachers. It also marks the revision of the standards for Initial Teacher Education in Céim and sets the ambition for the systemic implementation of Cosán, the national framework for teachers’ learning. The Council has set the plan into a five-year timeframe to ensure further consistent development of these areas.
The plan prioritises the Council’s continued goal of ensuring a sufficient supply of registered and vetted teachers to meet the identified needs of the school system. The Council maintains a register of over 111,000 teachers for a school system of almost 4,000 schools and one million learners. The Register has grown each year since 2006. At present an average of 5,500 teachers apply for registration each year. This means the Register is currently growing on average by approximately 3,000 registrants per year.
Also launching NOVUS, a major new database for the Register of Teachers, the Council aims to provide analysis for ongoing teacher supply modelling. The new system positions the Teaching Council as an innovator in the field of professional regulation, including digitisation. Teachers now have access to a fully online multi-service registration portal, streamlining service delivery and speeding up overall registration and renewal processes.
The Council said it will continue its ongoing collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the recruitment and substitution needs of schools are met with registered teachers on a systemic basis.
As part of the Council’s pandemic response, the Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD signed a Covid-19 Amendment Regulation, in both 2020 and 2021, to enable teachers who had qualified in another country to complete their induction in Ireland (on an exceptional and time-bound basis and subject to all ongoing necessary regulatory standards).
Tomás Ó Ruairc, Director of The Teaching Council said: “Undoubtedly many changes have taken place for the teaching profession over the course of the pandemic. Our strategic plan strikes a careful balance between adapting to many of these changes on the one hand, while on the other ensuring that the best of our teaching and learning that has always served us well continues to do so.
“The Council’s strategic plan will continue to emphasise the importance of collaborative practice where all education stakeholders will continue to have an essential role in developing and implementing innovative policy responses to our collective systemic needs. It also prioritises overall sustainability objectives within teaching, schools and society in general.”
Seán McMahon, Chair of The Teaching Council, said: “The Teaching Council is committed to supporting the high standards of teaching in which there is a very high level of public trust and confidence in Ireland. Through this strategic plan, the Council will play a key role in promoting the highest standards in teachers’ education and professionalism through effective policies and regulation. Collaboration and consultation with key stakeholders is at the forefront of the plan which will serve to ensure quality teaching and learning for all.”
Teaching Council Strategic Plan 2022-2027 (English)
Teaching Council Strategic Plan 2022- 2027 (Irish)
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