Setting standards for teachers

The new Teaching Council will be the voice of the profession, as well as overseeing and monitoring standards. Áine Lawlor, director of the council talks to John Downes.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Áine Lawlor, director of the newly established Teaching Council, is still a teacher at heart.

Her teaching roots become apparent almost immediately when she is asked to explain how the body, broadly similar to the Medical Council, will operate.

Demonstrating the studied patience of one who has spent a large part of her life explaining how things work, Lawlor says it will oversee and monitor standards in the profession, and regulate and support the professional development of teachers.

It will also examine the fitness of teachers to teach and, if appropriate, may impose sanctions up to and including deregistration.

Lawlor, who qualified as a primary teacher in 1969, has been heavily involved in overseeing educational change here for some time.

On secondment since 1996 from Scoil Nano Nagle in Clondalkin, Dublin, where she was school principal, in 1998 she was appointed national coordinator of the primary curriculum support programme.

But her role as director of the Teaching Council is arguably her biggest challenge to date. She admits as much when asked what she feels will be the issues she will have to deal with as it begins to take shape.

While the accompanying legislation might state that the "the director shall carry on and manage, and control generally, the administration and business of the council and shall perform such other functions as may be determined by the council," in truth, it will be about much more than that.

Lawlor will clearly need all her skills as a diplomat to manage what may at times be a delicate juggling act.

For example, while the Teaching Council will not deal with conditions of service for teachers - a strict teaching union issue - in other areas, such as the professional development of teachers, there may be some overlap between their work.

Similarly, other areas where the Teaching Council's role may need to be clarified include the accreditation of programmes of teacher training, and the adjudication of non-national qualifications, all of which have until now been the domain of other State bodies.

"I think if you take the Teaching Council Act in its entirety in itself it's a challenge to bring that Act to fruition. To have the 37 members of the council all working together as a unit, albeit with various opinions coming to the table, " Lawlor says.

"I do think that the general body of teachers haven't really got full awareness of what is involved in the Teaching Council Act. And I think our first challenge will be to bring that knowledge to the fore." Every teacher, primary and post-primary, will have to be registered with the Teaching Council to qualify to teach in a state school and to be paid by the Exchequer.

While the exact registration fee remains to be decided - Lawlor estimates it could be in the region of €65 - she acknowledges that some teachers may be reluctant to pay the money, at least initially.

This along with the fact that the recent turnout for the teaching council elections was just 40 per cent, indicates that work remains to be done in winning over the hearts and minds of teachers to the new body.

But Lawlor is quick to underline that the registration fee will mean the council is financially independent from the Department. After an initial two-year grant to enable it to get up and running, this will help to guarantee autonomy and independence, she says.

Others have expressed concerns that the Teaching Council, while welcome, might simply serve as a "happy clappy" talking shop for teachers to put a positive spin on the work they do.

There is a danger, they believe, that it will be slow to take tough decisions against teachers. So is there not a risk that it might be seen as too pro-teacher? For her part, Lawlor is unapologetic about her council's role in supporting teachers, as the Teaching Council Act "places great trust and confidence in the teaching profession. I think the Teaching Council will be the voice of the profession. It will stand up and be counted and say teachers are doing a good job. This is what they're doing. And I think we need to show the public ," she says.

"Sometimes people just think of their own school days and they don't recognise that huge change has happened in the physical layout of schools, in the activities in which children are engaged, in the very enjoyment that children are deriving from their school."

This is all very well. But perhaps the biggest litmus-test of the new director's resolve will be in the way the council will tackle the issue of problem teachers.

Lawlor stresses that the legislation clearly sets out the procedures for doing so - as such, both she and the council will be forced to follow all these procedures strictly before taking any decision to strike off a teacher.

But she does believe the new council will provide parents with "quality assurance", by setting down certain standards and ensuring everybody is operating in accordance with these standards.

Striking off a teacher will be a last resort - unless criminality is involved - and other options, such as suspension and/or retraining will also be investigated. Dealing with the question of fitness to teach is only one small aspect of the council's work, she adds.

"Nobody will do it lightly. Any council for any profession would have to take an issue of fitness to teach very seriously. They would have to be absolutely thorough in all the investigating process. They would have to be scrupulously fair in the disciplinary process," she says.

"It is the equivalent, really, of a legal hearing. The person against whom the complaint is made has a right to be represented, to be supported through the hearing. So the council will be duty bound under law to proceed as the legislation envisages it to proceed.

"But, having said that, one would hope that the cases of people being deregistered will not be frequent. But it would have to be undertaken - and undertaken seriously if necessary."