All those who were included on the Register of Teachers on 30 September 2011 will be eligible to stand for election to the Council in 2012.
In order to stand for election to the Teaching Council in 2012, prospective candidates must be nominated by 15 electors (registered teachers) in the same electoral category and geographical constituency. The Council will publish a notice to that effect in three national newspapers in January 2012 inviting nominations before 31 January 2012.
Nominations on the official nomination paper must be sent to the Returning Officer in the Council. The nomination paper will be available for download from the Elections page of the Council’s website from 10 January 2012. Nominations must be received by 31 January 2012. All nominations must enclose a consent form completed by the nominated teacher.
It should be noted that a person who is eligible for election may be nominated only in respect of the electoral category and geographical constituency for which s/he is an elector.
The Returning Officer will publish a list of candidates on the Council’s website on 9 February 2012.
All registered teachers who were on the Register of Teachers on 30 September 2011 will be eligible to vote. On 25 November 2011, the Council will publish the Provisional Electoral Roll (PER) containing the name, gender, teacher registration number, electoral category (including geographical constituency) and where applicable, the school roll number of every eligible primary and post-primary teacher. Arrangements regarding access to the PER will be available on the website.
Following publication of the PER on 25 November 2011, any eligible teacher (registered on 30 September 2011) whose name is not included on the PER may apply to have it included. Such an application must be received by the Returning Officer by 9 December 2011.
Following publication of the PER, any teacher included on it can apply to the Council to have his or her details amended where there are inaccuracies. Such applications must be received by 9 December 2011. Depending on the nature of the amendment required, documentary evidence may be required to support the application. The Returning Officer will examine all such requests within 14 days of the deadline for receipt of same and will amend the PER as appropriate.
In early February 2012, the Returning Officer will place a notice in three national newspapers advising electors and candidates of the date of the elections, the place and times for the counting of votes and any other particulars considered appropriate.
The elections will take place by means of postal ballot. Ballot papers will be sent to every elector on 17 February 2012 at his or her correspondence address as recorded on the Register. The ballot documentation will include the names of the nominated candidates, a declaration of identity form, a ballot paper envelope, a covering envelope, and details of the deadline for receipt of completed ballot papers (13 March 2012).
It is very important that the Teaching Council has an accurate and up-to-date correspondence address for every eligible teacher in order to be sure that they receive their ballot documentation.
Voting will take place using a single transferable vote system and further details in relation to this system will be available on the Elections page of the Council’s website.
Set quotas will be prescribed in relation to each category and constituency and the first candidate to reach that quota will be deemed to be elected. Where no candidate reaches the quota, the last candidate to remain standing after all others have been eliminated will be deemed to be elected.
An elector may vote only in respect of the candidates nominated in the electoral category and geographical constituency in which s/he is entered in the electoral roll.
There are four electoral categories as follows:
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Category 1: Primary teachers (9 members)
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Category 2: Post-primary teachers who are registered to teach in a recognised post-primary school and whose voting category is determined to be the Voluntary Secondary School Sector (4 members)
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Category 3: Post-primary teachers who are registered to teach in a recognised post-primary school and whose voting category is determined to be the Vocational Education Sector (2 members)
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Category 4: Post-primary teachers who are registered to teach in a recognised post-primary school and whose voting category is determined to be the Community and Comprehensive School Sector (1 member).
Categories I, II and III are further subdivided into geographical constituencies which, as far as practicable, reflect the local government areas and boundaries set out in the Local Government Act, 2001. Category IV (Community and Comprehensive) is a single geographical constituency .
Click here to view the electoral categories and geographical constituencies.
When forming the Provisional Electoral Roll, the Returning Officer decided on the appropriate voting category of each eligible teacher having regard to the Register and the sector in which s/he is employed. Where a registered teacher is not currently employed, or the Council has not got sufficient details in relation to his or her current employment, the Returning Officer decided on the appropriate voting category by lot.
As far as practicable, the Returning Officer allocated each eligible teacher to a geographical constituency on the basis of the address of the school where s/he is employed. Where the address was not available, the teacher was allocated to a geographical constituency on the basis of his/her correspondence address, or where this was not available, the last known address in Ireland. Where the Returning Officer had reason to believe an eligible teacher was living outside of Ireland, or where none of the preceding criteria applied, the Returning Officer allocated him or her to a geographical constituency by lot.
The Teaching Council Act, 2001 makes specific reference to the desirability of an appropriate gender balance and, consistent with this approach, gender balance has been built into the geographical constituencies. The candidates in each geographical constituency will be sub-divided into panels as follows:
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Where one member is to be elected there will be a single panel for all candidates.
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Where two members are to be elected there will be a panel of all female candidates and a panel of all male candidates.
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Where three members are to be elected there will be a panel of all female candidates, a panel of all male candidates and a panel of all candidates.
After the poll has taken place and all votes have been counted, the Council will forward a list of elected candidates to the Minister for Education and Skills in order that the Minister may appoint the elected teachers to the new Council.