The staffing arrangements for the supervision of students undertaking their School Placement is a matter for the initial teacher education providers. I understand that supervision of students on School Placement is undertaken by a combination of full-time staff in the Colleges concerned along with a number of external supervisors if needed due to the number of students involved. The external supervisors engaged are often retired teachers as the work requires experienced personnel with a thorough knowledge of the Curriculum and experience of a wide variety of classroom situations.
More generally, the recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authority, subject to procedures published by my Department.
Circular 31/2011, published in May 2011, details a cascade of measures for recruitment of teachers, prioritising unemployed registered teachers over retired registered teachers and registered teachers over unregistered persons.
Schools at primary and post-primary level are required to maintain a list of appropriately qualified registered teachers who have notified the school that they are available for substitute teaching at short notice. Where a substitute teacher is needed at short notice and advertising for the position is not feasible, the school must contact a person on the list established by the school or use a national service such as SubSearch or TextaSub.
Where these procedures are adhered to, an unregistered person should only be engaged for a limited period of time in exceptional circumstances. The school remains under an obligation to source an appropriately qualified and registered teacher at all times.
Each principal must report to his or her board of management on a regular basis on the fact that a list of unemployed registered teachers is being maintained, and the circumstances in which he or she has had to engage a registered teacher in receipt of a pension under a public service pension scheme or an unregistered person.
In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Acts, my Department recently provided information on the number of retired teachers employed in schools on a substitute or temporary basis between 28 August 2012 and 26 October 2012. This information is included in this reply.
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Number
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Teachers
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Number of retired primary teachers who were employed on a substitute or temporary basis up to five days
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175 Teachers.
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Number of retired primary teachers who were employed on a substitute or temporary basis from six days and greater
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62 Teachers
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Number of retired post primary teachers who were employed on a substitute or temporary basis up to five days
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74 Teachers. Please note that in compiling this report if a retired teacher carried out substitution for a class period in a day the record indicates a full day
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Number of retired post primary teachers who were employed on a substitute or temporary basis from six days and greater
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59 Teachers. Please note that in compiling this report if a retired teacher carried out substitution for a class period in a day the record indicates a full day
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Number of retired primary teachers who were employed continuously in the same school on a substitution or temporary basis up to five days.
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1 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 104 retired teachers
2 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 56 retired teachers
3 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 35 retired teachers
4 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 30 retired teachers
5 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 15 retired teachers
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Number of retired primary teachers who were employed continuously in the same school on a substitution or temporary basis for six days or greater
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6 – 10 days absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 28 retired teachers
11 – 20 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 15 retired teachers
21 – 30 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 6 retired teachers
31 days and over absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 2 retired teachers
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Number of retired post primary teachers who were employed continuously in the same school on a substitution or temporary basis up to five days
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1 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 16 retired teachers
2 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 22 retired teachers
3 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 15 retired teachers
4 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 13 retired teachers
5 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 12 retired teachers
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Number of retired post primary teachers who were employed continuously in the same school on a substitution or temporary basis for six days or greater
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6 – 10 days absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 36 retired teachers
11 – 20 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 14 retired teachers
21 – 30 day absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 3 retired teachers
31 days and over absences, either substitute or temporary capacity, covered by 5 retired teachers
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Please note that the same retired teacher may have carried out substitution or temporary service in a different school and therefore is included under one or more categories above.
