Teachers trained in Great Britain face NI work registration delay

There are fears a number of newly-qualified teachers who graduated outside of Northern Ireland will not be registered and able to work in the coming weeks.

A teacher has to be registered with the General Teaching Council (GTCNI) in order to teach in schools here.

A teachers' union, the NASUWT, said it had been "inundated" with messages from teachers affected.

Jill Wardley, who qualified in England, said she was "hugely frustrated".

The mother-of-three from Bangor, County Down, said she had been told by the GTCNI that it would be eight weeks before her application is processed, meaning that she cannot take up a full-time job or work as a substitute teacher in that time.

Last week, it was reported that as many as 500 new teachers had not yet had their registrations fully processed by the GTCNI, an arm's-length body of the Department of Education.

Teachers pay an annual fee of £44 to the GTCNI so they can work in a school in Northern Ireland.

Backlog caused by IT upgrade

The problem affects teachers who graduated in 2021 and are seeking work in Northern Ireland.

On Monday, the GTCNI said that teachers who had received an invoice should receive their registration details within 24 hours.

The organisation's chair, Brendan Morgan, said staff were working overtime to clear the backlog, which was caused by an IT system upgrade.

"I can assure you that every member of the GTCNI Registration Team has been working beyond their normal hours to clear this backlog as quickly as possible," he added.

Jill Wardley completed her PGCE through Northumbria University in England

However, Justin McCamphill, the NASUWT national officer for Northern Ireland, said "because of the concentration on getting Northern Ireland students over the line, those who have trained outside of Northern Ireland are suffering".

"A lot of them made life-changing decisions - they were maybe based over in England, Scotland," he said.

"Some of them will have been offered jobs there and will have turned those jobs down to come back to Northern Ireland.

"We believe this can only be resolved at a political level."

Mr McCamphill also questioned why an IT system upgrade had been carried out "at the busiest time of the year".

The GTCNI said that six to eight weeks was the "usual processing time for GB graduate applicants".

"If a qualification is awarded from a NI educational establishment it will have a shorter processing time because GTCNI will have accredited that qualification, so therefore the qualification will not require any further GTCNI checks," said chairman Mr Morgan.

He defended the IT system upgrade, saying it had been done as soon as it had been offered to the GTCNI.

"The existing IT registration system is quite dated so needs systematic upgrades to remain operable until a new replacement system is procured," he added.

'Back and forward constantly'

Ms Wardley, who received a PGCE from Northumbria University, said she started the registration process in June and submitted her final documents to the GTCNI on 13 August.

She has been told her application will take eight weeks - and in that time she will not be able to take up teaching work.

"It was back and forward constantly with the GTCNI from June," she said.

"They have told me that it will be eight weeks before my application is processed - payment has been made, I don't understand why it would take eight weeks for this to be processed.

"All of my identity documents were sent in June, it was just the final qualification documents they needed."

She added: "NISTR (Northern Ireland Substitute Teacher Register) is the subbing website for Northern Ireland - most qualified teachers need to be on that but I can't finish my application because I don't have my teaching registration number.

"Schools say there is plenty of subbing, but say: 'Let us know when you are on NISTR.' They can't take me while I am not registered.

"It is hugely frustrating,

"I have wanted to be a teacher for a long time, to do all that work for the PGCE and not to be available when schools are opening is disheartening."