Choppy waters for council

It may not all be plain sailing for the 24 individuals, representatives of the partners in education, who met with the Minister for Education and Science in Dublin Castle last week to establish a Teaching Council. Part of the council's job will be to establish a register for all teachers, administer disciplinary and deregistration procedures, offer advice on policy matters and regulate the profession and ensure the highest professional standards.

A 24-member steering group, chaired by Dr Seamus McGuinness of TCD has been set up to prepare a report by next March on the establishment of the council. Their report will provide the basis for the drafting of legislation later next year to underpin the council.

In spite of past disappointments in setting up such a council, the various partners in education are confident that this initiative will succeed. They have broadly welcomed the Minister's plans and are confident that it will succeed this time.

However, Rose Malone, education officer with the TUI and a member of the steering group, points out that her members are appointed under the Vocational Education Act 1930 and the Vocational Education Amendment 1944, which give statutory protection to VEC teachers. "We would not want their conditions to be worsened," she says. "We would be concerned at the whole issue of deregistration. A Teaching Council would register but it will also have the power to deregister. TUI members are employed by the State. We are the only people with so much to lose. We are the only sector where this applies in such an unequivical way."

TUI members, unlike ASTI and INTO members, may not be dismissed without the direct intervention of the Minister for Education.

The TUI will determine its position, says Rose Malone, "depending on the outcome of discussions of the steering group and the technical working group on issues such as deregulation and the level of authority of the council, whether it's just in an advisory capacity to the minister or whether it has more far-reaching powers."