Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2009
393 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teaching posts at second level that have been suppressed, abolished or otherwise deleted in the past two years in order to comply with cutbacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44484/09]
View answer394 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teaching posts at primary level that have been suppressed, abolished or otherwise deleted in the past two years in order to comply with cutbacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44485/09]
View answer395 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers at primary level who were deemed to be surplus to requirements and lost their jobs here in 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44486/09]
View answer396 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers at second level who were deemed to be surplus to requirements and lost their jobs here in 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44487/09]
View answer401 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of second level schools here in respect of which he has received requests for the employment of extra teachers based on enrolments at the beginning of the school year 2009-10; the number of cases to which he has responded favourably; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44492/09]
View answer402 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of primary schools here in respect of which he has received requests for the employment of extra teachers based on enrolments at the beginning of the school year 2009-10; the number of cases to which he has responded favourably; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44493/09]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 393 to 396, inclusive, 401 and 402 together.
The October 2008 budget measures came into effect in the 2009/10 school year and did not have an impact on teaching posts in the 2008/09 school year.
The Deputy will be aware that my Department has published provisional information on the Department's website about teacher allocations at primary and post-primary level for 2009/10 school year. This was done as a first step at improving the level of information in the public domain about changes to the staffing allocations at both primary and post-primary level.
While the final position won't be clear until all allocations are completed it is envisaged that there will be a reduction in posts at primary level in the 200-300 range compared to last year's allocation. Allocations are continuing for special needs and language support so the precise figure won't be known until these posts are fully allocated.
At post-primary level my Department estimated that the budget changes would result in a reduction of some 1,000 posts but that all of this reduction would not happen in the allocation for this school year. Apart from the provision of additional posts for some demographic increase and for special needs provision a number of additional factors influence the final net position such as the level of teacher retirements and resignations in any particular year in general; how retirements are distributed across schools; the extent to which at individual school level the number of retirements contributes to reducing a supernumerary situation in the event that the school is in an over allocation position; the extent to which any redeployment between schools reduces the supernumerary position; the incidence of awards of contracts of indefinite duration to fixed terms teachers; the extent to which a school is able to reduce an over allocation position by terminating fixed term contracts; the number of teachers remaining in individual schools on a supernumerary basis when the allocation and appointment processes have fully executed; the extent to which schools seek and are granted curricular concessions.
Taking these factors into account and while the budget measures would ultimately yield 1000 posts the yield in the 2009/10 school year was estimated at about 560. The estimates for the 2009/10 school year included provision for 320 additional posts (compared to 2008/09) and on that basis the net position was estimated at a reduction of around 240 posts.
The allocation of teachers at post-primary level to the end of November 2009 is showing a reduction of 504 posts compared to the position at the end of November 2008. This indicates that the final net position will be greater than originally estimated. Allocations are continuing for special needs, language support and for projected enrolments etc. so the final position won't be known until all these posts are fully allocated.
The allocation at post-primary level includes 209 posts to help schools with increased enrolments in September 2009. At primary level my Department received applications from 233 schools for developing school posts to cater for increased enrolments in September 2009. A total of 242 posts have been sanctioned for 184 of those schools which met the published criteria for developing status.
The Deputy will also be aware that when the Government was introducing the moratorium in the public sector earlier this year I secured a special arrangement for education which ensured we could fill teacher and SNA posts. The concession also provides for the filling of Principal and Deputy Principal posts in all schools and the first allocation of posts of responsibility in new schools.
More recently, the Revised Programme for Government commits the Government to no further increase in the pupil teacher ratio in primary and second level schools for the lifetime of this Government. Under the revised programme there is a commitment to provide 500 teaching posts between primary and second levels over the next three years. These posts will be allocated to the schools that are most seriously affected by the recent increase in the PTR, using objective criteria. A consultation process in relation to the allocation of these additional posts is currently underway between officials of my Department and the education partners.
