Sir, - There currently seems to be a climate of welcome for nationals who wish to return to Ireland, especially those who are well qualified and experienced to work in areas that suffer from shortages. But this is not always the case. The Department for Education and Employment in Britain has been struggling to fill posts for many years now and has had to adapt to teacher shortages. I originally trained and worked here as a secondary teacher, but for the past three years I have worked with pupils (mainly of primary age) with profound and multiple learning difficulties, as I realised this was an area in which I had a strong interest. I have received a lot of training and am considered to be a capable teacher, and I am welcome to teach pupils of any age or ability level throughout the UK.
However, Ireland is not offering me the same welcome. The Department of Education and Science feels that in order for me to be recognised as "qualified" to teach pupils with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, I must return to university full-time for at least one year and retrain as a national schoolteacher. I have no intention of teaching in a national school, so what will this course teach me about a job I can already do and wish to continue doing?
More importantly, will a national teaching qualification educate a graduate who is interested in working as a special needs teacher in, for example, communication for people with learning difficulties or methods of assessing and working with people with autistic spectrum disorders? A primary teaching qualification will not give this necessary training, and yet it allows those holding it to walk into such a job, whereas people such as myself are seen as unqualified! . - Yours, etc.,
Judith Makris, Harewood Road, London SW19.