Is a teacher actually qualified & registered to teach mathematics?

Would it be worth talking to a local TD? They could raise it with the Minister for Education on your behalf and then the school would have to respond I suspect.
 
Deas said:
Would it be worth talking to a local TD? They could raise it with the Minister for Education on your behalf and then the school would have to respond I suspect.
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I wouldn't go that far yet. If there are other concerned parents, I would organise a meeting and make it clear to the school principle and the BOM that this is a serious issue that many parents are taking very seriously. You are perfectly entitled to know the qualifications of who is teaching your child. If you don't get any joy from that, I would contact the Department of Education directly. As someone said, put everything in writing and ask for the repsonses of the school to be put in writing as well.
 
we are paying for our daughter to go to grinds also, if we didn't there is now way she would have the syallabas covered. I have told the principal & class teacher that she is attending grinds along with 19 out of 30 pupils in the class, the reply I got was, that is our choice. I have put my request in writing, trying to keep a paper trail but they wont respond in writing, they just keep calling me into the school to discuss the matter, but no reply in writing. A number of papents have complained about this teacher both in paper & verbally, but I am the only one who has actually brought up the teaching council & as a result the only parent asked to attend meetings with the class teacher & principal. wondering are they trying to keep me at bay ie not wanting me to contact the teaching council again.
 
csirl said:
However, registration with Teaching Council is mandatory for all teachers.
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There may be a technical requirement to register but there is no practical enforcement of this, especially for those already in a post.

Not being on the register means they are unqualified teachers. If they are not on the register, then you know with 100% certainty that they are not qualified to teach
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Many permanent teachers meet the registration criteria but most have chosen (quite sensibly IMO) not to register. Absence from the register does not tell you anything.

IIRC a planned ministerial order will make registration mandatory before appointment to a post (in theory since September 2010), but this will only affect new contracts and does not impact all schools.
 
There is, of course, the possibility that the teacher involved is also an unwitting victim.

It is possible that they may have been coerced, by the principal, into teaching a subject that they were not contracted to teach, not qualified to teach and were unhappy/unwilling or did not have the competency to teach.

Just a thought!


Marion
 
If the principal won't respond in writing and call you back to the school then I would bring a tape recorder, place it on the table in front of them and advise them you are going to record the meeting.
 
Padraigb said:
Why?
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The OP has said she is writing to the school, but cannot get any acknowledgement in writing, they are doing everything verbally. Hence there is no record/proof of exactly what is being said.

Recording the meeting gives a full record of exactly what went on, if the school do not agree to the recording then the OP could insist they respond in writing
 
OP has also indicated that she does not want things to escalate more than necessary. Using a tape recorder at a meeting would be seen by most people as confrontational. For a lower-key approach, pen & paper work quite well -- "do you mind if I make a note of this?"
 
legs-akimbo said:
Is there an official channel I can avail of to address my concerns, without being seen as acting in an underhand manner.
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There is an official complaints procedure - I think I have a copy of it stored somewhere and will see if I can find it.

As far as I recall the order is, speak to the teacher, if that doesn't work speak to the principal (or write), and then write to the Board if there has been no resolution.

I'm curious as to whether you have actually written to the Board - you mention the Chairman of the Board, but it's not clear if the rest of the Board are aware of the situation. Having been on a school Board myself, I remember it being drummed into us that as members we had no rights to act on our own, that the Board was only the Board when we were all together. Also, if an issue has been brought to the Board in writing, it would be expected that whatever reply would be given the same way.
 
The situation presently is that myself and my wife have been in contact with the teaching council. (we are both posting on this thread by the way under my name) so if I do not post correctly the details I am certain to be corrected !

My wife contacted the teaching council this afternoon, who subsequently looked up this teachers record only for us to be told that there was a database of teachers sent to them by the department of education in March 2003 which allowed these teachers to automatically be registered with the teaching council WITHOUT their qualifications having to be verified under an amnesty at that time, and the teacher in question was part of this database and availed of this amnesty. The teaching council told me that they don't have access to the information regarding subjects she can teach, this information is in the hands of the department of education & is protected information.

They advised me to contact the department and see if they can give me the information but they doubt they will.

The only way this information can be accessed via the F.O.I. we have been informed, is with the written consent from the person on whom you require the information, ie the teacher! and thats not going to happen!

We are in limbo . We are going to contact the department tomorrow & see what merry go around they put us on!
 
any update on this? are you going to follow it to the end and find out the teacher's qualification?
 
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