Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Supervision Duties.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

616 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the highest income paid to a non-teacher for providing supervision in a second level school during the school year, 2001-02; the number of hours worked for this money; the hourly rate of pay; and the school at which this person was employed. [16327/02]

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

617 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science if non-teachers are at present employed as supervisors in second level schools; if so, the number of schools where such workers are employed; the percentage this is of the total number of second level schools; the rate of pay; and the average weekly number of hours worked by these supervisors. [16328/02]

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

618 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of non-teachers employed by his Department to provide supervision in second level schools during the school year, 2001/2002; the number of schools where such people were employed; and the total cost to his Department of providing this supervision service. [16329/02]

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

619 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of non-teachers who were employed for each second level school in County Westmeath to provide supervision; the weekly cost for each school; and the number of weeks where such employees were employed at this work. [16330/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey):

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 616 to 619, inclusive, together.

Officials of my Department held discussions with the representatives of the managerial authorities in the second level sector in order to ensure that schools would remain open, when the ASTI directive to its members to withdraw from voluntary supervision and substitution duties took effect on 4 March 2002. As part of the contingency arrangements, that were drawn up, following detailed discussions with officials of my Department, by the representative management groups, the Joint Managerial Body, the Irish Vocational Education Association and the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, my Department undertook to resource schools in order that they could employ staff to provide supervision and thereby remain open. The cost of the supervision arrangements introduced for the period from 4 March 2002 to the end of the 2001-02 school year was of the order of €16 million.

The contingency arrangements, by their nature, were flexible and did not specify a pupil-supervisor ratio. As it was recognised that the number of supervisors required would vary from school to school depending on local circumstances including layout, both internal and external, it was considered that individual school management authorities were best placed to assess the level of cover and the number of persons required on an ongoing basis. Responsibility for the making of appointments, accordingly, was a matter for the individual school authorities. Supervisors who contracted for delivery of supervision services were remunerated at a daily contract rate of €68.56, based on a minimum of two hours supervision. Where further supervision was required, it was remunerated at €34.28 per additional hour. Some 520 schools or 70% of second level schools implemented the plan. Information concerning the number of persons recruited by schools, including schools in County Westmeath, the number of hours worked by each supervisor and pay ments made to each individual supervisor is not available to my Department.

In August 2002, the ASTI reiterated to its members that the directive not to co-operate with supervision arrangements would continue to operate from the new school year pending a consultation and decision making process with its membership. In the circumstances and in order to keep schools open, my Department has agreed in discussions with the representative management groups, to appropriate arrangements being made by schools that would involve non-teaching personnel carrying out supervision duties, as appropriate. While the number of schools, where such non-teaching personnel are employed, is not available at this time to my Department, I understand from management authorities that, as for the last school year, up to 520 schools or 70% of schools may be affected by the action by ASTI members. Responsibility for the level of cover and the number of persons required on an ongoing basis remains a matter for the individual school authorities. Supervisors, who must be available during the full period of time that the school is in operation each day and are expected to provide a minimum of ten hours actual supervision per week, will be remunerated at the rate of €370 per week. Pro-rata payments will be made for part-time supervision, as well as actual supervision in excess of the contracted hours.