Teaching Council

greatcountry · 25-11-2010 1:45pm #1

This has to be the greatest Quango going. It's an absolute joke. Let the Imf into this crowd. It cost 67,877 to recruit 25 but only 5,036 to recruit the next year. Handy getting friends for thos jobs in year 2.
90 euros for squat but spin about protecting professionalism la de da.
4. Employees 2008 2007
Number Number
Number of employees

The average monthly numbers of employees
during the year were:
Office and management: 41 25
__________________ __________________

Employment costs 2008 2007

€ €

Wages and salaries 1,594,524 1,058,113
Social welfare costs 127,037 76,311
Recruitment costs 5,036 67,877
Other pension costs 337,543 239,372
Other payroll costs 41,511 19,525
_________ _________

2,105,651 1,461,198

Choclolate · 25-11-2010 8:20pm

100% right

What a shower of wasters.

They dont even understand the degrees they are assesing.

Talking about putting people off being teachers, or having a bad shower representing teachers.

Teachers Council are idiots.

Mountainsandh · 25-11-2010 8:31pm

+1 to both. A lot of money wasted on colour printing pointless correspondance too from that crowd.

paddymick_2000 · 25-11-2010 8:36pm

I am not a teacher, but why have teachers not come together to oust these wasters.

solerina · 27-11-2010 6:45pm

Totally agree, they are a disgrace..paying money every year and there is nothing in return......what exactly are they doing with all the money they are getting ??

phkk · 27-11-2010 6:51pm

+1,its the biggest rip off.this QUANGO HAS TO STOP

ytareh · 27-11-2010 7:14pm

Agreed

spurious · 27-11-2010 7:39pm

Sadly the real joke is where the money to fund it comes from.
We fund it with each and every one of our €90.

gaeilgegrinds1 · 27-11-2010 8:19pm

Can we refuse? Genuinely, I'd rather give my 90 to charity. My degree is straight forward, has been recognised so it's not going to change. When are they actually going to bring in the rule that says teachers without degrees in that subject cannot teach those subjects? I thought that was what we were paying for!

evolving_doors · 27-11-2010 10:44pm

paddymick_2000 wrote: »

I am not a teacher, but why have teachers not come together to oust these wasters.

Oh you mean like a union or something ya?

The Council is made up of 37 members as follows:

11 primary teachers, nine of whom are elected and two of whom are teacher union nominees
11 post-primary teachers, seven of whom are elected and four of whom are teacher union nominees
2 nominated by colleges of education
2 nominated by specified third level bodies
4 nominated by school management (Two Primary and two Post-primary)
2 nominated by parents’ associations (One Primary and one Post-primary)
5 nominated by the Minister for Education and Science, including one representing each of IBEC and ICTU

Maybe those union reps on the teaching council will vote to abolish it..hmmmm...

greatcountry · 13-06-2011 12:39pm

Armelodie, you're dead right there. Nice way to tidy up threat of a union-led revolt. Latest threat is that those not registered won't be paid ...quango...quack...quango...quack

evolving_doors · 13-06-2011 2:01pm

I see the notice calling for teacher reps for the TC in every school is still up gathering dust in our staffroom...my heart weeps

milosh · 13-06-2011 11:19pm

I like the idea of a professional body to regulate teaching as long as they are given the power to do the job properly. I only want to see qualified teachers in the profession. I also believe that schools should only be allowed to allocate subject hours to teachers who are qualified to teach those subjects. If there was an audit of this in the morning, I wonder how many schools are not doing this.

byhookorbycrook · 14-06-2011 6:08pm

INTO Welcomes Decision to Implement Section 30

The DES has confirmed to the INTO that the Minister for Education and Science, Ruairí Quinn TD, will be implementing Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act in full.
The INTO welcomes the implementation of this longstanding demand of the Organisation, including a resolution adopted at INTO Annual Congress this year. INTO representatives have been in intensive discussions with DES officials in recent times pressing for the implementation of Section 30. The Section confirms that only registered teachers will be eligible for payment as teachers in schools.

TheDriver · 15-06-2011 11:33am

but when? Though Ruairi means business with all his proposals so far so don't think it will be long

implausible · 15-06-2011 3:34pm

The demented thing is that we would have got away without paying the €90 up until now! You only needed it if applying for a Principal/DP position:mad:

nozama · 15-06-2011 7:22pm

From the teaching council's website:

Commencement of Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001

[ Wednesday, 15th June 2011 ]

The Teaching Council has been advised by the Department of Education and Skills that Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001 will be commenced in the coming school year.
Section 30 provides that:
A person who is employed as a teacher in a recognised school
but —
(a) is not a registered teacher, or
(b) is removed or suspended from the register under Part 5,
shall not be remunerated by the school in respect of his or her employment out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
There are currently more than 70,000 teachers registered with The Teaching Council.
Teachers wishing to register should note that the registration process involves Garda vetting, the submission of qualification transcripts, and other supporting information.

spurious · 15-06-2011 8:13pm

I still believe a smart (or probably a not particularly smart) lawyer would knock that out of the water.

If I am teaching 20 odd years, fully qualified and registered with the TC, how can they not pay me for work already done* on the basis that I have not kept up my registration.

Not that I am not qualified
Not that I am not vetted
Not that my degree was not acceptable
Not that I did not do the work
Not that the work was not satisfactory
Not that I did not follow the required curriculum
but that I failed to pay a 90 euro fee.

We really have lost the plot in this country if that stands up in any court.

Meanwhile classes get bigger, special needs are slashed, language supports go, the weakest of the weak are targetted for cuts and the TC 'promotes teaching as a profession' by threatening the people who are trying to hold the sinking ship together.

*since we are all paid in arrears.

Fickidy · 16-06-2011 3:25pm

I'm a secondary school teacher and I'm not registered with the teaching council. I was, in 2006, when it was first formed, but I subsequently took a career break for 2 years and I let my membership lapse (I wasn't going to pay €90 for absolutely no services whatsoever, particularly since I wasn't even teaching).

So, I returned to my job in 2009. I was told I had to re-register with the Teaching Council. I phoned them to enquire about this and was told I would need to send in copies of my Degree and H-Dip Certs and also that I would need to go through a garda vetting programme. I don't understand either of these things... I had sent copies of both my parchments to the DESS when I was first employed by them and, as far as I know, they still have these on file (or at least they should!). I have also never done anything illegal and have no criminal record so I resent being asked to do be vetted by the gardai!

Anyway, I told all of this to the girl on the phone. Needless to say, she had no responses for me (especially when asked what it is exactly people are paying them this money for). In the end, for fear of not being paid, I asked her to send me out the re-registration forms. She didn't. I then e-mailed them to ask them to send them out. They didn't. I wasn't going to go chasing them to pay them a relatively large sum of money for a service which meant nothing to me.

So, now, I read that I am not going to be paid during the next academic year. Livid is not the word. I work with a member of the Teaching Council and he has even told me that they have millions in the bank and are doing nothing with it. They are still charging us €90 a year... But, where is this money going? Where are the audited accounts? Why are the members of the TC staying in 4/5* hotels every time they have a conference? Why was my colleague shot down when he suggested lowering the annual fee? Why is the Head of the TC earning a six-figure sum for the sitting on her arse?

As you can tell, I'm not happy. I tried ringing them again today and no answer. I e-mailed. No reply.

I am writing a very long and detailed letter to Ruairi Quinn to outline my outrage and I think that more teachers should consider doing this also.

Am fed up with this stupid country and rules that don't make sense.

seriouslysweet · 16-06-2011 5:59pm

Will this act stop us being taught by teachers who do not have the subjects they are teaching?

jonseyblub · 16-06-2011 7:45pm

seriouslysweet wrote: »

Will this act stop us being taught by teachers who do not have the subjects they are teaching?

Definitely not. As the timetabler in my school myself, the principal and Deputy have spent the last two weeks filling round holes with square pegs. The department are not giving an inch this year regarding hours. The principals are being told to fill hours with teachers whether or not they are qualified to teach it or not. The only extra hours that will be given will be for practical subjects where its impossible for anyone else to teach it. Its this that makes me so annoyed when I hear the media/politicians giving out about the state of Maths in the country. We have a Maths teacher who retired this year and his hours will be filled by someone (by no fault of himself) who is not qualified in the subject. It just happens we had a surplus in certain other subjects. Crazy!!

evolving_doors · 16-06-2011 9:52pm

Fickidy wrote: »

So, now, I read that I am not going to be paid during the next academic year. Livid is not the word. I work with a member of the Teaching Council and he has even told me that they have millions in the bank and are doing nothing with it. They are still charging us €90 a year... But, where is this money going? Where are the audited accounts? Why are the members of the TC staying in 4/5* hotels every time they have a conference? Why was my colleague shot down when he suggested lowering the annual fee? Why is the Head of the TC earning a six-figure sum for the sitting on her arse?

As you can tell, I'm not happy. I tried ringing them again today and no answer. I e-mailed. No reply.

Maybe with all the money they might start funding courses for teachers...:D

or else they're saving up a warchest for future cases against teachers!!!

Probably the latter.

What I'm wondering is how do other councils work, like the medical council? Do they do 'anything' either ?

If you could become a TC rep for your school then maybe you might have a better chance of getting through..(I'm sure nobody else in your school has taken up the post!!)

Anyhow it's appalling how you've been treated, have you tried your local TD, they're more inclined to help if there's a vote in it for them. Ruairi's secretary will probably file your letter nicely away and tell you the matter is being looked into.

Fuinseog · 18-06-2011 7:43pm

in order to teach at any level in a secondary school you need to be registered with the teaching council and you need to submit all your documents to them, yet principals still want to see your certificates when you are starting, which would suggest even they do not take the council seriously.

looksee · 18-06-2011 11:04pm

I have also never done anything illegal and have no criminal record so I resent being asked to do be vetted by the gardai!

While I sympathise with the rest of your argument, I don't think you should confuse the issue with the above. Garda vetting is perfectly reasonable for people who work with vulnerable people, just saying 'I haven't done anything illegal' really doesn't make sense.

PennyWise11 · 02-09-2011 11:57pm

I totally agree with every word.

nozama · 03-09-2011 1:42am

So here we are in September and still no word on enactment of Section 30....
Colleagues who are not members still being paid, Teaching Council undermined yet again...
Regretting joining in panic over the summer!

whiteandlight · 03-09-2011 11:26am

nozama wrote: »

So here we are in September and still no word on enactment of Section 30....
Colleagues who are not members still being paid, Teaching Council undermined yet again...
Regretting joining in panic over the summer!

It really is a farce.posted on a thread earlier that the VEC I'm working for insist on their own Garda vetting as well as a transcript of results and birth cert. All this info has been submitted to the tc to get registration. It really makes me wonder are they just creating work so that they look busy??

carolmon · 03-09-2011 12:08pm

I'm registered with the Teaching Council and I have paid my fees up until December 2011.
At present I have no teaching hours this year.

What happens if I don't pay my fees because I am not working............do the Council take me off the register and insist I re register and go through the whole process again if I get work??

Is there a reduced rate for unemployed teachers to remain on the register?

I wouldn't object to a nominal admin fee to update the process but it seriously annoys me to have to pay out 90e if I'm not working..........
with the amount of unemployed teachers nowadays it's an issue to consider.

Lord TSC · 03-09-2011 12:29pm

Agreed there. In the last year, I've worked two days and got paid just over 200€. Counter that with the 180€ I've now paid to the TC and then tax and all that and I've walked out of the last year with about twenty quid

Laura.Lee · 03-09-2011 12:30pm

And on the Hibernia PGDE thread, unqualified teachers are saying that they are currently subbing in the schools they are to do teaching practice in in Februaury. :mad::mad::mad:
So unfair and unsatisfactory. The TC really needs to implement change.

Delphi91 · 04-09-2011 7:08pm

Laura.Lee wrote: »

And on the Hibernia PGDE thread, unqualified teachers are saying that they are currently subbing in the schools they are to do teaching practice in in Februaury. :mad::mad::mad:
So unfair and unsatisfactory. The TC really needs to implement change.

Its not just Hibernia PGDE students - I'm aware of at least two students who were subbing in schools in the year prior to their entering for a PGDE so that they could build up hours "of experience" to allow them to qualify for the entry requirements.

Teaching Council

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