Budget 2012 provided for the phased withdrawal of approximately 428 posts allocated to some schools under disadvantage programmes prior to the introduction of DEIS in 2005. These posts were in 173 DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 Schools, 163 post primary schools, 16 rural DEIS schools and 17 non DEIS schools. Due to conflicting reports of posts being lost in these schools, my Department produced a report on the impact of the withdrawal of these legacy posts from Band 1 and Band 2 Schools. Following the Government's decision of 21 February 2012 in the matter a number of schools continued to retain disadvantaged legacy posts from previous disadvantage schemes on a year to year basis and only where warranted, based on the enrolment of the previous 30th September.
As the Deputy may be aware, a range of factors contribute to determining the staffing requirement for individual schools including changes to enrolment and the reforms to the teacher allocation process in 2012. The overall objective of the reforms is to enable the teacher allocation and redeployment process to operate more smoothly and efficiently, to give a more equitable distribution of existing posts between schools, give earlier certainty to schools about their staffing allocations and, where possible, simplify and streamline existing processes and give greater autonomy to schools. This also removed the need to directly notify every DEIS school of its staffing levels each year.
As the teaching allocation to schools, including disadvantage legacy posts, are enrolment-based, this determines whether schools gain or lose teaching posts from year to year. Some schools seemed to be under the impression that the Government decision of February 2012 in relation to legacy posts, implied that they would retain legacy posts, regardless of changes in enrolment. I wish to clarify that legacy posts are retained in schools from year to year, only where warranted, based on the enrolment of the previous 30th September. It is not my intention to review this decision.
