School Staffing

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2012

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Ceisteanna (168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177)

Michael McCarthy

Ceist:

207 Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if, in the context of the review of learning support teachers due to be published shortly, he will consider basing one learning support teacher, LST, in a school (details supplied) in County Cork, in view of the fact that it shares an LST with two other schools; the likelihood that another LST will be allocated to the three schools shortly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4968/12]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn)

The new simplified approach to the General Allocation Model of support for schools will make it easier to automatically update it annually in line with the changes in the number of classroom teachers in each school. Schools will also have autonomy on how to deploy the resource between language support and learning support depending on their specific needs. The arrangements for the staffing allocation under the General Allocation Model (GAM) are specifically designed to facilitate GAM hours being clustered into full-time posts — either entirely within their own school or with a nearby neighbouring school. The new GAM allocations are being done in 5-hour blocks which is the equivalent of the tuition time for a full school day. Teachers that are in shared posts between schools can therefore operate local arrangements that enable their travel to a neighbouring school to be done, where possible, from the start of the school day thus avoiding loss of tuition time.

As part of the reforms to the teacher allocation process existing posts will be used to put in place a network of about 2,450 full-time resource posts in over 1,600 base schools throughout the country that will be allocated on a permanent basis. This approach builds on the interim arrangements that operated in 2011 but in a more structured and transparent manner. The annual changes in resource hours at individual school level will only affect where the teacher is working on any one day — not whether the base school continues to host the full-time post. This approach will introduce a greater constancy in the context of the annual allocations and redeployment process.

The teachers in these full-time resource posts will undertake NCSE approved (low incidence) resource hours in the base schools or in neighbouring schools. Schools are typically notified of their NCSE approved resource hours in the late Spring/early Summer period but also throughout the school year. Through his/her role in allocating resources the local SENO will have an oversight role in relation to the sharing arrangements between schools so that they can operate as efficiently as possible and any time loss due to travel between schools can be kept to a minimum. Schools that are unable to access their NCSE approved resource hours from this network of full-time resource posts will be allocated mainly part-time temporary posts.

Michael McCarthy

Ceist:

208 Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider allowing a school (details supplied) in County Cork to retain a teaching post in view of the fact that it is shortly due to absorb a pupil which will bring it to the required 51-pupil threshold and given its DEIS band 2 status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4969/12]

Michael Lowry

Ceist:

219 Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide information on the number of teaching posts that will be lost in smaller schools — schools with fewer than four teachers — in counties Tipperary and Offaly, separately, for the next academic year 2012-2013; the number of schools affected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5083/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

245 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of posts that will be lost in each county from September this year as a result of changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5601/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

246 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that will be affected in each county from September this year as a result of changes to staffing schedules of one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5602/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

247 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that face closure from September this year as a result of changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5603/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

248 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of pupils that will be affected from September of this year as a result of changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5604/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

249 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of gaelscoileanna and minority faith schools that will be affected from September this year as a result of changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5605/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

250 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills if any impact analysis was carried out in his Department prior to proceeding with the decision to introduce changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5606/12]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

251 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason he chose to apply retention figures for small schools retrospectively to last year’s enrolment figures in respect of changes to staffing schedules in one, two, three and four-teacher schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5607/12]

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 208, 219 and 245 to 251, inclusive, together.

At a time of great strain in our public finances, we have to ensure that the very valuable but limited resources available for the education system are used in the best way possible. The staffing schedule at primary level disproportionately benefits small primary schools. It is worth noting that we have 3,200 primary schools across Ireland. Over two thirds of those schools have more than 86 pupils and, as a result, have far higher average class sizes than all of the schools affected by this measure. For example a two teacher school with 32 pupils has an average class size of 1 teacher for sixteen pupils. In contrast, a typical ten teacher school with 272 pupils has an average class size of 27.2 pupils. It is important to retain a sense of perspective and balance when discussing this matter and to realise the exceptionally favourable supports my Department will continue to provide for small schools. For that reason, as part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. Even when all of these phased increases are implemented, the threshold for small schools will still be significantly lower than the minimum of 28 pupils that was required for the appointment of a second teacher in schools prior to the mid-1990s.

The phasing of these measures can provide the schools concerned with time to consider the potential for amalgamation with other schools where this is feasible. If amalgamations take place, they will be voluntary and follow decisions taken by local communities and not by my Department. My Department's focus is on implementing the staffing arrangements for the coming school year and I do not propose to divert scarce staffing resources to deal with the individual type queries from the Deputies. My Department will be notifying schools in the coming weeks of the new staffing arrangements for the 2012/13 school year.