asked the Minister for Education if secondary school teachers are only paid quarterly; and, if so, if there is any reason why they cannot be paid monthly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Payment of Secondary Teachers.
43.
Incremental salary is payable quarterly to registered secondary teachers but monthly advances are payable at the option of the teacher. In fact, the majority of teachers are paid monthly advances. Similar provisions apply to the payment of the relevant allowance to teachers engaged in serving the year of teaching experience necessary for registration except that it is not possible to pay an advance in the first quarter of the school year, because of the necessity, before any payment may be made, of verifying that the conditions governing payment have been satisfied in each case. These conditions include prescribed academic qualifications and teaching hours.
It is entirely in respect of the first quarter that I am concerned. It involves young teachers starting off. They come up from the country, they have to get digs and that can amount to considerable hardship. They are three months in digs in Dublin before they get any money from the Department.
This can only apply in the first quarter of probationer teachers. There are about 700 of these and it is necessary for the Department to verify, in the case of each of the 700, that they have the necessary educational qualifications—the higher diploma in education and the required number of teaching hours. This means consultation with the schools to verify the timetables in the case of each of the 700. It is not possible to do this in a time shorter than the first quarter.
It is hard to accept this—to think it should take three months when a teacher is being employed for the first time. Surely the schools concerned have to require certain qualifications before they take on the teacher in the first instance. It should be accepted by the Department that only qualified teachers are employed in secondary schools.
It is necessary to verify this and it takes time.