Background
The Teaching Council is the regulatory body which is designated as the Competent Authority within the State for the assessment and recognition of teaching qualifications from EU and third country applicants. The registration process is legislatively underpinned by both EU and Irish legislation in the form of the Professional Qualifications Directive (EU Directive 2005/36/EC, as amended); EU (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations (SI 8 of 2017); Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015, the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012; and Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016.
- The Teaching Council has developed a tailored registration process to support the registration of qualified Ukrainian teachers who have been granted Temporary Protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive.
- The tailored process takes account of the legislation outlined above and the ‘Guidelines on the recognition of professional qualifications of people fleeing from the war in Ukraine’ published by the European Commission.
- A specific application form (UKR-01) and Guidance Notes have been developed. All queries and requests for application documents should be addressed to ukrainianteachers@teachingcouncil.ie.
The Process
This tailored application process is applicable only for teachers who have qualified in Ukraine and have been granted Temporary Protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive.
A person deemed to be a qualified teacher has completed a teacher education qualification at university level and can provide evidence of qualification as a teacher from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and/or from a Ukrainian university in which they qualified.
- To support the registration of qualified Ukrainian teachers who have been granted Temporary Protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive, the Council has modified the sequencing of processes in the registration process. The qualifications of qualified Ukrainian applicants eligible to apply under this process will be assessed following initial registration. This assessment process is to ensure that qualifications are of a comparable standard to those achieved by graduates of accredited programmes in Ireland. Where significant differences arise, conditions are applied to the teacher’s registration.
- The vetting and police clearance processes have also been adjusted to ensure that standards are maintained while taking account of the unique situation in Ukraine.