Returning to Ireland as a teacher

If you’re a teacher returning to Ireland who qualified outside Ireland and want to teach at a primary or post-primary school and receive a state salary, you will need to apply for recognition of your qualifications.

The Teaching Council is the professional organisation that regulates the teaching profession in Ireland and will assess your foreign teaching qualifications. They produce a code of professional conduct for teachers, which covers standards of teaching, knowledge, skill, and competence. They also maintain a register of teachers.

Below, you will find information about the qualifications needed to be a teacher in Irish primary and post-primary schools, as well as an explanation of the assessment and registration process if you qualified outside Ireland.

Primary school teachers

You are deemed a fully qualified primary teacher if you:

• Completed a recognised teacher education qualification and programme of induction, and
• Can provide an official letter confirming you are fully qualified primary teacher from the relevant teacher registration body, competent authority, or Ministry of Education in that country. The Teaching Council has list of competent authorities available.

The Teaching Council will assess your qualification to ensure it is of a standard comparable to those of accredited programmes in Ireland. If there are significant differences, ‘conditions’ (these are also called ‘qualification shortfalls’) are applied to your registration as a teacher (referred to as ‘conditional registration’).

If the Teaching Council grants you conditional registration, they will inform you of the conditions applied, the measures you need to take to complete them, and the deadline when they need to be met. Your conditions are recorded on the Register of Teachers and on your Certificate of Registration.

Irish language requirement (ILR)

Be aware that if you successfully register as a primary teacher, you will normally have the Irish Language Requirement (ILR) condition applied to your registration. This is because primary school teachers in Ireland must be able to teach the Irish language and the range of primary school subjects in Irish.

The Teaching Council has a page that explains how you can complete the ILR.

Post-primary school teachers

You are deemed a fully qualified post-primary teacher if you:

• Completed a recognised teacher education qualification and programme of induction, and
• Can provide an official letter confirming you are fully qualified post-primary teacher from the relevant teacher registration body, competent authority, or Ministry of Education in that country. The Teaching Council has list of competent authorities available.
• Meet the Teaching Council’s requirements for at least one post-primary curricular subject, and
• Hold a relevant teacher education qualification.

If you are applying to teach a language subject or Irish/Gaeilge, you must meet the Teaching Council’s Immersive Educational Experience (IEE) requirement.

The Teaching Council assesses your qualification to ensure it is of a standard comparable to those of accredited programmes in Ireland. If there are significant differences, ‘conditions’ (these are also called ‘qualification shortfalls’) are applied to your registration as a teacher (referred to as ‘conditional registration’).

If the Teaching Council grants you conditional registration, they will inform you of the conditions applied, the measures you need to take to complete them, and the deadline when they need to be met. Your conditions are recorded on the Register of Teachers and on your Certificate of Registration.

History and structure (H&S) condition

If your application is successful, the Teaching Council will apply the condition of History and Structure of the Irish Education System to your registration.

You can satisfy this condition by completing an online exam that is run several times during the year. The booking forms for the exam and additional details and resources are available from the Teaching Council.

The assessment process and registration of your qualifications takes place over three stages. These stages are the same for both primary and post-primary teachers who have qualified outside Ireland.

1. Application

You must apply online using My Registration, and select the PRQA-01 option. You can save your application as a draft and return to work on it later. You will have 3 months from the date you start your application to complete and submit it. If you have not completed the application after 3 months, it will be deleted.

Make sure to save the required documents for the application as electronic files that have relevant filenames, (for example, ‘Degree Transcript’). Upload this documentation and then pay the necessary fees to submit the online application form. You will receive an acknowledgement email confirming submission, and if any documentation is missing, the Teaching Council will contact you.

Be aware that it can take up to 12 weeks for the Teaching Council to assess your qualifications from the date they receive all the required documents for your application.

If you need help completing your application, there are guidelines for registering as a primary teacher (pdf) and as a post-primary teacher (pdf) that are available from the Teaching Council.

2. Assessment

At this stage, a Qualifications Panel assesses the application you submitted and determines if there are any conditions that need to be applied to your registration. If the Panel decides to apply any conditions, or if your application is refused, they will contact you by email.

You can request a review of the decision within 21 days of the Panel’s decision by emailing info@teachingcouncil.ie with your application reference number or registration number. The Teaching Council will then email you an application form.

When appealing, you can include additional evidence of qualifications and provide a written submission to the Registration Committee Review Group that will make an evaluation. More details are available from the Teaching Council about the review process for appeals.

3. Registration

Your registration is finalized when all other requirements have been met relating to the following:

Character reference

You can get a blank copy of the Character Reference Form from the first page of your PRQA-01 online application. This form must be signed by a professional person in a position of scholastic or academic responsibility who has known you in a professional capacity for at least 1 academic year in the last 5 years. This could be:

• A teacher currently registered with the Teaching Council
• The head of school placement of the college or university where you completed your Teacher Education Programme
• A tutor of the college or university where you completed your Teacher Education Programme
• A school principal or director of an Education and Training Board (ETB)

Your character reference must be fully completed, signed, and dated within 1 year of the date of registration.

Vetting

If you lived for 12 months or more outside of Ireland after the age of 18, you will need to provide police clearance documents from all countries where you previously lived. These clearance certificates must cover the entire period of residence in each country.

The Teaching Council has additional information available on how to apply for vetting and overseas police clearance.

English language requirement

You can demonstrate the required level of knowledge of the English language by providing one of the following to the Teaching Council with your application:

• A copy of a qualification (either teacher education or undergraduate degree) acquired and examined in which the language of instruction was English
• A copy of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) (Academic) certificate attesting your knowledge in the English language with a score of 7.0 or above
• Evidence of living and working in the English language for 3 out of the preceding 5 years in a country that has English recognised as an official language
• Evidence of living and undertaking a programme of learning for 3 out of the preceding 5 years in which English is the language of instruction in a country where English is an official language
• A copy of a Cambridge C1 Advanced (formerly known as ‘Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)’) with a minimum Grade of C

You will need to renew your registration annually. The Teaching Council will send you a renewal notice approximately 7 weeks before your renewal date, so make sure the contact details on your My Registration account are correct and up to date.

The renewal fee costs €65, and you can renew your registration through your My Registration account.

Read more on our page about teacher qualifications.

The Teaching Council has information pages that cover planning to register as a primary teacher or as a post-primary teacher.