Vol. 406 No. 4
14 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Education the number of part-time and temporary teachers employed in (a) national schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) vocational schools and (d) community and comprehensive schools; her view on whether the numbers of such teachers is excessive; and if she is prepared to sanction the employment of permanent wholetime teachers on ESF funded courses such as vocational preparation training and vocational training opportunity schemes.
In relation to primary schools, there are 60 part-time teachers in special national schools for handicapped children for practical subjects such as woodwork, PE and so on. There are 1,575 temporary teachers employed in national schools, the great majority of whom are replacing teachers on career breaks which extend from one to five years. The scheme was put forward by the teacher unions and we are glad to be able to continue with it. In regard to post-primary education the actual number of part-time teachers is not available but is expressed in terms of whole-time teacher equivalents.
In the case of secondary schools my Department's records do not distinguish between temporary and permanent whole-time incremental posts. There are 172 whole-time equivalent posts filled by part-time teachers.
Is the Minister aware that of the 621 teacher equivalent posts in Dublin VEC in 1990, 133 were part-time? Surely the Minister will agree that this is totally unfair to the children whose education will suffer because they have a change of teacher every couple of weeks? Will she agree that it is also unfair to the teachers who are continuously looking over their shoulders wondering if they will be employed the following week? Is the Minister aware that in some schools they are unable to fill the posts of responsibility because they do not have enough permanent teachers? What is the Minister prepared to do about it? Will she agree to impose a 10 per cent maximum on the number of part-time staff in any school?
That is a separate question. What the Deputy is overlooking is that many of the teachers of whom he speaks are on the very excellent VPT courses in vocational schools. But, as a general rule, the Department do not sanction permanent posts in respect of ESF-funded courses because such courses are subjected, from year to year, to scrutiny and allocation of moneys from Europe. That is the reason we run the courses in that manner. The Deputy has mentioned one scheme. If he has details of any particular schemes and will let me have them, I will be glad to have them examined and come back to him on them.
The Minister stated in her reply that the question of whether VPT courses could be implemented was dependent on finance forthcoming from Brussels. Therefore is not the Minister saying that the 17,000 young people participating in ESF-funded courses are subject to the possibility of such courses being terminated at any time in Brussels if the requisite money is not available?
No, I never said that.
That is the implication of what the Minister said.
That is what the Deputy said. I did not go into those precise details. What I said was, first, there are 24,000 young people participating in VPT courses, not 17,000. Second, I said that was the way in which always these courses operated. Indeed here I might pay tribute to my predecessor, former Deputy Hussey, because it was she who first went to Europe and obtained funding for those courses. From their inception, it has been done in that fashion from year to year. As I said, as a general rule, my Department do not sanction permanent posts in respect of ESF-funded courses because such courses are subject to change and are sanctioned on a year-to-year basis only. That rule was not made by me; it was made in Europe.
Of the 500 new posts promised under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress how many will be permanent, whole-time and how many will be part-time?
That is a separate question but I am always very keen to answer. We are at present examining the requirements for September next for allocation of posts to primary and post-primary schools. I hope the relevant schedules of appointment will be issued shortly after Easter.
