Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 November 2012
107. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school teachers, primary and post primary, that have been dismissed, sacked or services terminated here to date; if he will provide the exact figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53611/12]
View answerSection 24 of the Education Act 1998, as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012, provides that the appointment, suspension and dismissal of teachers are the responsibility of boards of management of recognised schools or, where the employer is a person other than a board, by that person. An example of the latter would be a vocational education committee.
Under Circulars 59/2009 (VEC schools) and 60/2009 (all other schools) procedures were agreed relating to both professional competence issues and procedures relating to work, conduct and matters other than professional competence. This agreement was made under the terms of Towards 2016 and the procedures were issued in September 2009.
The Department is informed of a case going through the disciplinary procedures in two situations. The first is in the case of unsatisfactory performance where the Inspectorate may be required to participate in an assessment of performance under Stage 3 of the agreed procedures. The second is in the event that a teacher wishes to appeal the proposed disciplinary action. In this case the appeal is to a Disciplinary Appeal Panel appointed by the board of management or VEC. The Department nominates the chairperson of the panel and provides a secretariat to support the work of the panel. The final decision in respect of the appeal panel recommendation rests with the school's employer.
Under Stage 3 of the agreed procedures the Inspectorate have been informed of 2 cases of unsatisfactory performance, 1 in respect of a primary teacher and 1 in respect of a post-primary teacher. In both cases the Inspectorate could not complete their assessment of performance as the teachers resigned from their posts prior to the completion of their assessments.
Since the introduction of the agreed procedures, a total of 15 appeals (Stage 5) under the disciplinary procedures have been received. Of the 6 cases that related to dismissal, 2 were not upheld, 2 were upheld, 1 was upheld with a recommendation and 1 is pending.
Outside of these processes, the Department does not keep statistics on individual cases.
