Ireland opened a register door for teachers who qualified abroad, and it shuts on 30 December 2027
If you trained as a teacher outside the Republic and never finished your induction year there, you have been stuck: no induction, no full recognition at home. Since 22 October 2025 there is a way through, and it is time-limited. We read the Teaching Council’s own pages this morning and found that they give two different closing dates, and that the page a candidate actually lands on carries neither. Further down, what the five open European assistantships pay an Irish graduate, in euro, from the authorities that issue them.
The Teaching Council’s timebound provision lets a teacher who qualified outside the Republic of Ireland register here and complete induction in Ireland, instead of having to go back and finish it in the country that awarded the qualification. It opened at 9am on Wednesday 22 October 2025 and the Council’s page says applications must be received on or before 30 December 2027, at 23.59. That is a little over fourteen months from this issue’s date. You need written evidence from the awarding country’s registration body or ministry that your qualification entitles you to teach there apart from the missing induction. Primary applicants may carry only one shortfall, the Irish Language Requirement; post-primary applicants may carry only the History and Structure of the Irish Education System, and must already meet the curricular subject requirements for at least one subject. Everyone registers with Droichead as a condition.
On the wire this fortnight
- Ireland, the date. Timebound provision open since 9am on 22 October 2025, closing 23.59 on 30 December 2027. Read at source today. Queries go to the Council’s dedicated address, not the general one.
- Ireland, the discrepancy. The Council’s own page states 30 December 2027 in its main text and in one FAQ answer, while the FAQ question above that answer says 31 December 2027. Plan to 30 December and you are safe either way.
- Ireland, the page that does not say so. The route page for teachers qualified outside Ireland still describes this provision as “anticipated” to open in the third quarter, names no year, and carries no closing date at all. That is the page a candidate lands on from search.
- Ireland, the narrow gate. Under this route a shortfall cannot be fixed by an aptitude test or an adaptation period. Equivalence has to be full apart from the one permitted gap. The standard route does allow both.
- Europe, the pay. France 2026/27 pays €1,036.21 gross a month, about €820 net, for 12 hours a week over seven months. Germany pays €1,000 net for 12 hours. The Austria document we could read today is last year’s and gives approximately €1,945 gross for 13 hours, marked TBC on the page itself.
- Europe, two closing dates for one round. gov.ie published 5pm on Thursday 12 March 2026 for the 2026/27 ELA round. The French authorities’ own France terms for the same round say 15 March 2026. Both read today. We cannot reconcile them from here.
- Spain, re-read at source today. Unchanged and still closed: no new Irish places on the ELA programme in Spain for 2026/27, “due to continued administrative issues”. The 2026/27 forms collection still lists a Spain terms document underneath that notice.
The register desk: what the timebound provision actually is
Here is the trap it was built for. A graduate from Ireland does a PGCE in England, is awarded Qualified Teacher Status, and then leaves (to teach abroad, or to come home) without completing England’s statutory induction year. The qualification is real. The recognition is not finished. Back in Ireland the Teaching Council’s standard route asks for evidence that induction was completed where the qualification was awarded, and there is no such evidence to give. The teacher is qualified, employable in a private language school anywhere, and cannot register at home.
The Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2025, Statutory Instrument No. 482 of 2025, were signed into law by the Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee, on 16 October 2025 and came into operation that day. They revoke six earlier registration instruments dating from 2016 to 2023. Inside them is a time-limited provision that lets exactly that teacher register in Ireland and do induction here instead. The Council opened it for applications at 9am on Wednesday 22 October 2025.
The Council’s pages give two closing dates, and we are printing both. On the provision’s own page, the main text reads that the option “is only available for applications received on or before 30 December 2027”, and an FAQ answer repeats “on or before 30 December 2027” and adds that “the deadline for applications is 23.59 on that date”. The question heading directly above that answer asks about 31 December 2027. Both were read on this page this morning.
One day’s difference is not academic when the instruction is also that your teacher education qualification must be completed before you apply. Work to 23.59 on 30 December 2027, which satisfies either reading, and if the date matters to your planning, put the question to the Council’s timebound address in writing and keep the reply.
Sources: The Teaching Council, Qualified outside of Ireland: induction not complete, and The Teaching Council, revised Registration Regulations, both read 28 October 2026; S.I. No. 482 of 2025, read 28 October 2026. Queries to the Council’s timebound provision address, tbp@teachingcouncil.ie.
The two gates, and the single shortfall each one allows
This route is narrower than the standard one, and the narrowness is the point. On the standard route, where the Council finds that a qualification does not meet its requirements, it may require an adaptation period or an aptitude test and register you with conditions while you complete it. Under the timebound provision the Council’s own FAQ states that shortfalls cannot be addressed that way. Your qualification has to be assessed as equivalent apart from one named gap, and which gap you are allowed depends on which register you are joining.
| Gate | What the Council asks for | Where people fall |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Evidence of entitlement to teach | Written evidence from the awarding country’s teacher registration body or Ministry of Education that your qualification entitles you to teach there, apart from the missing induction. The Council’s worked example is Qualified Teacher Status from the Teaching Regulation Agency in England | The Council says plainly that without this evidence you should not proceed. A university transcript is not it. This comes from the regulator, not the college, and regulators are slow in December |
| 2a. Primary, ages 4–12 | A teacher education qualification from outside the Republic assessed as equivalent. The only permitted shortfall is the Irish Language Requirement | Anything else missing and this route is closed to you. The ILR is then met by an aptitude test, the Scrúdú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge, or an adaptation period, the Oiriúnú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge |
| 2b. Post-primary, ages 12–18 | Equivalence, with the only permitted shortfall being History and Structure of the Irish Education System. You must also meet the curricular subject requirements for at least one post-primary subject. Minor shortfalls in the subject requirements may be carried as registration conditions | The subject requirements are the real filter, and they were updated for anyone registering on or after 5 January 2026. Check your degree against the current list before you pay for anything |
| 3. Droichead, for everyone | Registration carries the condition that you complete Droichead, the Council’s integrated professional induction framework, in Ireland | Droichead happens in a school, so it needs a post. Registration is the door, not the destination |
| 4. The programme type | Traditional college or university programmes, such as a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, are the ones most likely to qualify | The Council says alternative certification models, including international variations of those programmes, are less likely to qualify. A school-based or employment-route certification is the risk case |
Source: the eligibility criteria and FAQ on the Teaching Council’s timebound provision page, read 28 October 2026, and its post-primary registration page for applicants qualified outside Ireland, read the same day. The History and Structure examination is run online by the Council three times a year. Applications are made through My Registration.
How to tell in five minutes whether this route is open to you
- Ask whether induction is the only thing missing. If you completed induction, probation or statutory supervised practice in the country that awarded your qualification, you do not need this route at all. Use the standard route, which has no deadline.
- Ask your awarding regulator for the letter, today. You need written evidence from the teacher registration body or Ministry of Education in that country stating that your qualification entitles you to teach there apart from the outstanding induction. In England that is the Teaching Regulation Agency. Without it, the Council says do not proceed.
- Decide which register you are joining. Primary, ages 4 to 12, or post-primary, ages 12 to 18. The one shortfall you are permitted to carry is different for each, and you do not get to choose it.
- Post-primary only: check your degree against the current curricular subject requirements for at least one subject, using the list that applies to registrations on or after 5 January 2026. This is the step that ends most applications, and it is free to check.
- Apply through My Registration before 23.59 on 30 December 2027, with your teacher education qualification completed by then. Put any question about the exact deadline to the Council’s timebound address in writing first, because the Council’s page gives both 30 and 31 December.
This is a reading of the Teaching Council’s published criteria on 28 October 2026, not advice. The Council decides eligibility, and it is the body to ask.
The Europe desk: what an Irish graduate is actually paid as a language assistant
The other half of this issue is the opposite journey. An Irish passport needs no visa and no work permit anywhere in the EU or EEA, which is why the European assistantships matter more to readers here than the programmes that dominate the English-language internet. The Department of Education and Youth runs Ireland’s own route in, the English Language Assistant scheme, and for 2026/27 it offered Austria, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels. The terms are not published in one place and they are not published at the same time, so what follows is a board of what each authority itself says, with the vintage of each document named, because the vintages differ.
| Programme | Pay, as published | Hours and term | Deadline / status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELA France Department of Education and Youth, with the French authorities | €1,036.21 gross a month, approximately €820 net | 12 hours a week, across up to three schools in the same area. 1 October 2026 to 30 April 2027, seven months. Aged 20–35 on arrival, first year of a bachelor’s completed, any discipline, French at B1 certified by a university tutor | 2026/27 round closed 15 March 2026 on the French document. 2027/28 not published. Line closed |
| ELA Germany Department of Education and Youth | €1,000 net a month | 12 hours a week. Appointment from 14 September 2026. Aged 18–35, and the German authorities normally consider candidates no older than 35. Modern-language undergraduates in at least their second year at the time of applying, German at B1 minimum | 2026/27 round closed 5pm, Thursday 12 March 2026. 2027/28 not published. Line closed |
| ELA Austria Department of Education and Youth 2025/26 document | “Salary: TBC approx. €1945 (gross)”, as printed, marked to be confirmed on the page itself | 13 hours a week. 1 October to 31 May, eight months. Valid Irish or other EU passport, and UK passport holders also eligible. Most of secondary education completed in Ireland. Undergraduates after their second year, preferably modern languages | The document we could read today is the 2025/26 one and carries a closing date of 13 March 2025. A 2026/27 Austria terms document is listed in the current collection. Watch it |
| ELA Italy Department of Education and Youth | Not read at source today. See what we could not verify | Not read at source today | Terms document published in the 2026/27 collection. 2027/28 not published. Watch it |
| ELA Belgium / Wallonia-Brussels Department of Education and Youth | Not read at source today. See what we could not verify | Not read at source today | Terms document published in the 2026/27 collection. 2027/28 not published. Watch it |
| ELA Spain Department of Education and Youth | No places offered | None | Closed for 2026/27, “due to continued administrative issues”. Re-read at source 28 October 2026, unchanged. No 2027/28 date. Line closed |
| TAPIF, France Villa Albertine / French Embassy in the United States | Published by the programme for its own applicants | Seven months, October to April | 2027/28 window open, closes 15 February 2027. United States citizens and permanent residents only. An Irish passport cannot apply. Not an Irish route |
Sources, all read 28 October 2026: gov.ie, English Language Assistant (ELA) Scheme, last updated 15 June 2026; gov.ie, ELA Scheme application forms 2026/27; Germany Terms and Conditions 2026/27; France Terms and Conditions 2026/27, French Embassy in Ireland; Austria Terms and Conditions, 2025/26 vintage. Every figure above is published in euro by the issuing authority. No currency conversion was made in this issue, so no ECB reference rate applies to it.
Two closing dates for one round, and we cannot reconcile them. The gov.ie scheme page and the Germany terms both give 5pm on Thursday 12 March 2026 as the closing date for the 2026/27 ELA round. The France terms for the same round, published by the French Embassy in Ireland, give 15 March 2026. Both were read this morning. It may be that one is the Irish submission deadline and the other the date the French side accepts nominations by, but neither document says so, and a candidate reading only the France document would be three days late by the Irish date. When the 2027/28 forms appear, work to the earliest date printed anywhere.
And the vintages are not aligned. The Germany terms we read carry 2026/27 dates. The Austria document we could read carries 2025/26 dates and a March 2025 closing date, while the current collection lists an Austria 2026/27 document we did not open. A candidate comparing countries on a weekend is comparing documents from different years without being told so. Compare the contract dates on each document first. They tell you which year you are reading.
Update, 28 October 2026, evening. gov.ie now serves the 2026/27 Austria terms, and on that document Austria pays approx €2,000 gross a month for 13 hours a week, 1 October 2026 to 31 May 2027, with the same 12 March 2026 closing date as the other countries. That replaces the 2025/26 figure of approx €1,945 printed above, which we leave as published. We also read the Italy terms (€850 net a month, 12 hours, ages 18 to 30) and the Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels terms (€1,617.33 net a month, 12 to 16 hours, ages 21 to 35). Issue 8 carries all five side by side. Sources: gov.ie, ELA application forms 2026/27, read 28 October 2026.
What this board is for, and what it is not
None of the five open ELA countries is accepting applications today. The 2026/27 round closed in March and no 2027/28 forms have been published for any country. Last year’s pattern put the forms on gov.ie in the winter with a March close, and a pattern is not a date; we will print the date the day it appears. The board above exists so that the decision is made now rather than in March, because the parts that take time are not the form. They are the B1 language certification, which in France’s case must be certified by a university tutor, and the attestation forms, which the scheme requires to be completed confidentially by a professor, lecturer or tutor for students and by the current employer for everyone else. Applicants may choose one country only, and the Department says incomplete applications are excluded.
Notifications for successful and reserve candidates come, in the Department’s own words, at the end of May or the start of June, and an offer has to be accepted or declined by email within ten working days or the placement is withdrawn. If you are weighing a European assistantship against a private-school route, our Salary Index carries the comparison and The Paperwork Desk carries the document chain. The country guides are TEFL jobs in France, teaching English in Italy from Ireland and TEFL jobs in Spain.
Source: the application, attestation and notification rules on the gov.ie ELA scheme page, last updated 15 June 2026, read 28 October 2026. Applications go to the Department’s ELA address as a single PDF, with the subject line the page specifies.
The schools desk: where Transition Year sits in all of this
The register story has a sixth-year reader too
Most of this issue is for people already qualified. The part that is not is the question a guidance counsellor gets every November: what does a student do now if they think they might want to teach, in Ireland or abroad, and are not sure which. A TEFL qualification taken in Transition Year is the cheapest answer to that, because it is useful on both sides of the door. It is the qualification that opens private-school and language-school work across Europe on an Irish passport without any registration process at all, and it is a credible line on a CAO personal statement for an education course at home.
Our standing TY pages are how an online TEFL course fits a Transition Year, the best Transition Year courses in Ireland, and, for coordinators running a cohort, the Transition Year course for schools and coordinators, which carries cohort pricing and a fit planner. Careers staff who want the Wire as a standing resource for students can use our page for careers services and guidance counsellors.
Elsewhere on the Group wire
Our sister title led on Tuesday with the deadline board for the rest of the world: six JET closing dates between now and December, and four programmes (EPIK in Korea, Taiwan’s TFETP, Hong Kong’s NET scheme and Chile’s Inglés Abre Puertas) that publish no closing date at all. That is the argument that an undated programme is harder to plan around than a tight one, and it is worth reading if Asia is on your list. The TEFL Institute’s Hire Wire keeps Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and the global qualification reference. We keep Ireland, and Europe as a destination from an Irish or EU starting point. Neither of us reprints the other.
One line from their board belongs here, because it keeps catching Irish readers. TAPIF, the Teaching Assistant Program in France, is open for 2027/28 and closes on 15 February 2027, and it is restricted to United States citizens and permanent residents. An Irish passport cannot apply to it at any point. The Irish route into a French assistantship is the ELA scheme above, run by the Department of Education and Youth, and its 2027/28 forms are not published yet. If you want to know what a qualification is actually worth to an employer outside Europe, that is the reference layer our sister title holds: TEFL qualifications and terminology explained.
What we could not verify
Five things, named so the gaps are visible. The Italy and Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels terms are listed in the current gov.ie collection but we did not open either document today, so no figure for those two is printed above. The Austria 2026/27 terms are likewise listed and unopened; the Austria figure we print is from the 2025/26 document and is marked TBC on that document itself. Which of 30 or 31 December 2027 the Teaching Council intends is not something we can settle from here, and the Council’s own page carries both. Whether the 12 March and 15 March dates for the 2026/27 ELA round are two deadlines or one deadline described twice is not stated on either document. And the registration fee for the timebound provision is not published on the provision’s page. Every figure in this issue is in euro as published by the authority that issues it, and no conversion was made here.
Note, 29 October 2026, fortnightly sweep. Three of the five gaps named above were closed on the evening of 28 October and the update box further up this page carries the figures: the Austria 2026/27 terms (approx €2,000 gross for 13 hours, 1 October 2026 to 31 May 2027), the Italy terms (€850 net, 12 hours, ages 18 to 30) and the Belgium / Wallonia-Brussels terms (€1,617.33 net, 12 to 16 hours, ages 21 to 35) were all read at source that day. The paragraph above is kept as published, per our corrections policy, and this note governs it. The two gaps that remain open are which of 30 or 31 December 2027 the Teaching Council intends, and whether the 12 March and 15 March dates are two deadlines or one. No source was re-read on 29 October.
What is the Teaching Council’s timebound provision?
It is a time-limited route in the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2025 that lets a teacher who qualified outside the Republic of Ireland, but did not complete induction in the country that awarded the qualification, register in Ireland and complete induction here through Droichead. It opened at 9am on Wednesday 22 October 2025.
When does the timebound provision close?
The Teaching Council’s page states that applications must be received on or before 30 December 2027, at 23.59, and one FAQ question on the same page refers to 31 December 2027. Work to 23.59 on 30 December 2027, which satisfies both readings. Your teacher education qualification must be completed before you apply.
Who is eligible for the timebound provision?
You need written evidence from the teacher registration body or Ministry of Education in the country that awarded your qualification, stating that it entitles you to teach there apart from the outstanding induction. Primary applicants may carry only the Irish Language Requirement as a shortfall. Post-primary applicants may carry only History and Structure of the Irish Education System, and must meet the curricular subject requirements for at least one subject.
Can I use an aptitude test or adaptation period under this route?
No. The Teaching Council states that shortfalls cannot be addressed through an aptitude test or an adaptation period under the timebound provision. Equivalence must be full apart from the one permitted gap. The standard registration route does allow an adaptation period or an aptitude test where the Council requires one.
What does the Irish ELA scheme pay in 2026/27?
France pays 1,036.21 euro gross a month, about 820 euro net, for 12 hours a week from 1 October 2026 to 30 April 2027. Germany pays 1,000 euro net a month for 12 hours a week from 14 September 2026. The Austria document readable on 28 October 2026 is the 2025/26 one and gives approximately 1,945 euro gross for 13 hours a week from 1 October to 31 May, marked to be confirmed. Italy and Belgium/Wallonia-Brussels terms are published but were not read for this issue.
Is the Irish ELA route into Spain open?
No. Re-read at source on 28 October 2026 and unchanged: due to continued administrative issues it is not possible to offer any new places on the ELA programme in Spain for the 2026-2027 academic year. No 2027/28 date, places or forms have been published for Spain or for any other ELA country.
Can an Irish citizen apply to TAPIF in France?
No. TAPIF is restricted to United States citizens and permanent residents. Its 2027/28 window is open and closes on 15 February 2027, but an Irish passport cannot apply at any point. The Irish route into a French assistantship is the Department of Education and Youth’s English Language Assistant scheme.
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Written by Olivia Klimczyk for The Hire Wire, The TEFL Institute of Ireland. Every figure was checked against its official source on 28 October 2026 and links to it. Nothing here is immigration, legal or tax advice, and nothing here is a registration decision; the Teaching Council and the Department of Education and Youth are the bodies to ask. Corrections are made here in place and noted. Read our Editorial Charter, or open The Paperwork Desk, The Visa Desk, The Salary Index and Deadline Alerts.