Bureaucratic logjam has left school teachers in limbo as term-time looms: union

Justin McCamphill, the head of NASUWT in the Province, has said the responsibility lies with a body called the General Teaching Council of Northern Ireland (GTCNI), which is in charge of registering teachers.

For its part, the GTCNI indicated that the backlog involved 140 teachers, that it is working to clear these, and that the situation had been beyond its control.

The GTCNI is a public body linked to the Department of Education. In order to teach at nursery, primary, or secondary level, teachers must be on its register.

The GTCNI checks applicants’ qualifications, and makes sure they have no dangerous criminal convictions.

Teachers need only register once, but each year get charged £44 to stay registered.

Mr McCamphill said a backlog of registration forms is currently sitting unprocessed at the GTCNI – and that with schools gearing up to re-open in little over a week, it could lead to staff shortages.

What is more, he said he warned the Department of Education earlier in the summer of looming problems.

Mr McCamphill estimated that there are roughly 500 registration applications from teachers each year.

Whilst pupils will not start returning until about September 1, he said it is necessary for teachers to begin preparing perhaps a fortnight in advance of the new term beginning.

‘DEPARTMENT WAS FOREWARNED’:

Mr McCamphill (whose union used to be known as the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, and has about 12,000 members in the Province) told the News Letter that teachers already lacked confidence in GTCNI, even before the current problems.

“I wrote to the minister back in June to highlight my concerns,” he said.

“She replied on July 2 telling me that she didn’t need to meet me, and everything was in hand. Clearly it wasn’t.”

He discovered the true extent of the problem only on Wednesday, during a meeting with 40 new teachers.

“I was hosting an event for newly-qualified teachers, and at the end of it I asked: Does anyone have a question on anything?

“Then we discovered nobody at that event even had their registration yet.

“This is the one job in the year which they [GTCNI and the department] have to get right, above all else.

“What shocked me most was that, when I rang the Department of Education [this week], they didn’t know this was happening! They didn’t know there was a problem!”

As to what the worst-case scenario could be, he said: “Pupils won’t have the teacher that should be in front of them.

“And if there aren’t enough teachers available on the substitute teacher register, they could be left with pupils being sent home because schools can’t find teachers to cover classes.”

He says there are now signs “they’re actually getting this sorted”, but that ultimately “it’s now time for an independent inquiry into how GTCNI and the department function in this regard”.

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GTCNI RESPONDS:

As to why the backlog arose in the first place, the GTCNI blamed “a matter outside of our control”.

It said: “The backlog cited primarily arose due the mechanism used by GTCNI to make checks of the Disclosure and Barring Service register being closed to GTCNI.

“This was due to changes implemented by the Department of Education in England.

“It meant that GTCNI was unable to process applications fully and as required until an alternative arrangement could be put in place.

“A revised arrangement was agreed and implemented in July.

“Unfortunately this sudden change coincided with the busiest registration period in the year with NI graduates (approximately 500) to be processed, though these do not form part of the backlog cohort.

“We are working a quickly as possible to address all applications with confirmation of registration provided to NI graduate applicants upon payment of the registration fee, which can be processed and received online.

“Invoices for this being emailed to all NI applicants this week.”

As to how schools might be affected, it said efforts are underway to “minimise any impact”.

“All NI graduate applications for registration should have their registration confirmed in the coming days (upon payment of registration fee),” GTCNI said.

“Any other applicant awaiting confirmation of registration in order to take up a confirmed job offer at the beginning the coming school year should contact us via [email protected]”

...AND SO DOES THE DEPARTMENT:

The claims that the department had been forewarned about the problems were put to its press office.

Its response in full said: “The Department is aware of a problem arising from the recent upgrade of a major IT system within GTCNI.

“This has led to delays for newly qualified teachers in receiving confirmation of their teacher registration.

“We have been advised that technical challenges with the upgrade have impacted on the registration of all of this year’s cohort of newly qualified teachers.

“We realise that this will be a source of concern for all of those who have worked so hard to qualify as teachers, and who will understandably be anxious to complete their registration and begin their careers within the profession.

“Part of the delay has arisen from a need for each applicant to pay their initial teacher registration fee to complete the registration process.

“GTCNI have advised that invoices for these fees are now being issued via email to all applicants involved.

“Details of an online payment option will be included and applicants should receive final confirmation of their registration within 1-2 days of making their payment.

“Newly qualified teachers awaiting registration, should check emails regularly and act quickly once you receive a message from GTCNI.

“This situation is deeply regrettable and the Minister has instructed GTCNI to fix this as a matter of urgency and to review the recent changes in their IT systems to ensure that no other unforeseen problems have been introduced.”

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