The formal establishment this week of the Teaching Council, while overdue, is very welcome. It should help to enhance the status of the profession as Education Minister Mary Hanafin predicted at the launch. This State, she said, has been "well served by teachers throughout the generations. It is right that we entrust them with a much greater say in the regulation of their own profession".
Few fair-minded people would take issue with this assessment. The role of the Teaching Council will be broadly similar to that of the Medical Council and other regulatory bodies for the professions. Every teacher will have to be registered with the council to qualify to teach in a State school. Among other areas, it will advise the Minister on the minimum standards required for entry to teacher training and draw up codes of professional practice for teachers. It will also investigate and, where appropriate, apply sanctions in relation to the professional misconduct or fitness to practise of any member. The Council could have a teacher struck off the register for very serious breaches of professional standards.
Although these disciplinary provisions will attract much attention, it is important to place this aspect of the Council's role in context. Its primary task will be to support and enhance the teaching profession. There is much to be done. Better professional development of teachers will be a key priority. Many second-level teachers, in particular, receive only cursory in-service professional development once they reach the classroom. Great strides have been made in recent years but the fact that many teachers take computer and other skills courses at their own expense, and in their own time, speaks volumes.
The council faces other challenges. It must help ensure the proper supply of fully qualified primary teachers and put an end to an era of poor planning in this area. It must establish clearer procedures for the recognition of teaching qualifications, particularly for well-qualified teachers coming from Northern Ireland and Britain. It might also move to modernise teacher education at primary level and provide a greater practical teaching element to the courses on offer.
It is to be hoped that the council will achieve its potential. If it is to be relevant to teachers it must - as the Irish National Teachers Organisation pointed out this week - make a real contribution to their professional lives. In the process, it should help provide further quality assurance to parents and the general public about good teaching in our classrooms.