Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 April 2024
308. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education if her Department will consider allowing teachers previously registered with the Teaching Council to make an application for incremental credit assessment before they have obtained a teaching job (details supplied). [19036/24]
View answerThe criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the Department of Education’s Circulars 10/2001 for Primary teachers, 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC).
These circulars require a teacher to be in an appointed post in either a Department or ETB school. With regard to those teachers directly paid by the Department, an application form for incremental credit is checked when it is received by the Department to ensure that it is fully completed. Applications are managed in date received order.
There is no provision within the existing incremental credit circulars to allow for the recognition of prior service ahead of a teacher taking up an appointment in either a Department or an ETB school. It may not be known either if a teacher was registered with the Teaching Council or not.
When a teacher returns to a school, they may opt to work in either a Department paid teaching position, or an ETB paid position. Also if a teacher worked previously in a school in Ireland, they would return unto the same point of the pay scale as when they left their previous appointment.
Teachers who were first appointed to a Department paid teaching position prior to 1st January 2011 are paid according to a common basic salary scale plus qualification allowances.
Teachers who were first appointed to a Department paid teaching position on or after 1st January 2011 are paid in accordance with the revised salary scale.
Circular letter 0027/2016 allows for previous teaching service in an analogous teaching position in the public service of another EU member state to be recognised on the same basis as if the service was given in Ireland when determining the appropriate salary scale (and allowances where applicable) payable to the teacher.
In addition, my Department receives a large volume of applications for incremental credit which are received from teachers who have returned to Ireland and who have taken up teaching positions in Oireachtas funded teaching positions as required under the relevant circulars. It would not be practical for my Department to also accept applications from teachers who have not obtained a teaching job, who may not have returned to Ireland and who may decide not to return to Ireland at all.
