The formal establishment of the new Teaching Council yesterday is a welcome, if overdue, development. The council will regulate the teaching profession and the professional conduct of teachers; promote the improvement of standards in teacher education and training - and advance the in-service development of the profession.
Compared to most other OECD states, the Republic has been slow in giving teachers responsibility for the regulation of their own profession but, as Dr Séamus McGuinness of TCD pointed out yesterday, the council's launch coincides with a period of curricular innovation, new legislation and other changes in our education system.
That said, it also comes at an inauspicious time, where there is much discussion about self-regulation among the professions. In some cases, the public has been dismayed by the manner in which some regulatory bodies have moved to protect their own members, instead of recognising the wider public interest.
At yesterday's launch, Teaching Council chairwoman Joan Ward said it would represent a "new model" of self-regulation. While most of the 35 members of the council are drawn from the teaching unions, other interests are represented - including those of employers and the wider trade union movement. Ms Ward says there will be "no closed doors" and a robust level of self-regulation. It is to be hoped that this is the case.
The council has a number of important roles but, as Minister for Education Mary Hanafin noted yesterday, "the manner in which it deals with under-performing teachers will be seen as one measure of its effectiveness". The Minister has acknowledged that there is a real problem in dealing with the small number of teachers whose performance creates difficulties for pupils, parents and their own colleagues. The new council will have the power to deregister teachers deemed guilty of serious professional misconduct, once all the usual procedures at school level are exhausted. But there is every reason to be confident that the council will discharge its duties in this regard with rigour and fairness, as the director of the council, Áine Lawlor, indicated in an interview with this newspaper yesterday.
The council has other important work. It will shape the future of teacher education, which is still sadly neglected despite a major 2002 report which called for radical reform. It must also examine another neglected and under-resourced area, the professional development of teachers over the course of their careers. The council has made an impressive start. It could make a real impact in helping to raise professional standards in teaching.