The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015. There are five routes of registration with the Teaching Council which are namely Route 1: Primary, Route 2: Post-primary, Route 3: Further Education, Route 4: Other and Route 5: Student Teacher. The registration requirements for each route is set out in the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016.
Route 5 provides for student teachers who have successfully completed the first two years of an accredited undergraduate primary or post-primary programme of initial teacher education, to apply to register with the Teaching Council as a student teacher.
This is only for substitute work and students must fully complete and participate in a programme of initial teacher education, at which point they can apply for registration under Routes 1 or 2.