These Regulations relate to the functions of the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland, a body corporate established by Article 34 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (“the 1998 Order”) with the aims of contributing to improving the standards of teaching and the quality of learning and maintaining and improving the standards of professional conduct amongst teachers in the public interest.

Article 35 of the 1998 Order confers on the Council the function of establishing and maintaining a register of teachers. Part II of these Regulations makes provision as to the form and manner in which the register is to be kept, and other matters relating to registration. Part II also prescribes circumstances additional to those set out in Article 35 of the 1998 Order in which teachers are ineligible for registration. Schedule 1 sets out the matters to be recorded in the register against a teacher’s name.

Part III requires the Council to supply copies of information held about them to registered teachers and other persons such as qualified teachers who are not registered about whom the Council holds records and requires the Council to supply the information set out in Schedule 2 to employers and prospective employers of teachers and to the General Teaching Council for England, the General Teaching Council for Wales and the General Teaching Council for Scotland.