Thomas Byrne
Question:220. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to initiate a teacher job exchange programme for permanent exchange as opposed to temporary exchange. [40114/16]
View answerTuesday, 13 December 2016
Questions (220)
Written answers
The provisions of the teacher exchange scheme are set out by my Department in Circular Letter 0017/2015 the contents of which were agreed under the auspices of the Teacher Conciliation Council. The Teacher Conciliation Council is part of the scheme of Conciliation and Arbitration for Teachers and was set up to deal with claims and proposals relating to the Terms and Conditions of employment of teachers. The Council is composed of representatives of teachers, school management, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and is chaired by an official of the Workplace Relations Commission.
The Teacher Exchange scheme is open to primary teachers who are registered with the Teaching Council, have completed probation and who wish to exchange their posts for educational purposes. Educational purposes would include enabling teachers in primary schools to gain experience of teaching in different types of settings. The concept is that teachers will gain a different experience, enrich their knowledge and understanding of their professional work and share this understanding with colleagues.
The minimum period for which an exchange may occur is one year and the maximum is five years.
In the current year the issue of this limit and the purpose of the scheme was reviewed under the auspices of Teachers Conciliation Council. Having considered the matter in detail and taking into account all circumstances both the union and management partners considered that their preferred option is to retain the existing scheme as set out in the published circular.
Available teaching posts are to be filled by redeployment, in the first instance, in accordance with the redeployment schemes or by the agreed recruitment and appointment procedures as published in Governance Manual for Primary Schools 2015 – 2019.