Michael Healy-Rae
Ceist:186 Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied) in respect of a school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13702/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 13 March 2012
Ceisteanna (136, 137)
Tom Fleming
Ceist:222 Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the special circumstances of a school (details supplied) in County Kerry in which the teacher numbers will have decreased from nine to seven in two years, while the pupil population has increased over the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14308/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 186 and 222 together.
The staffing arrangements for the 2012/13 school year are set out in Primary Circular 0007/2012 which is available on my Department's website. This includes the detail of the reform of the allocation process which is designed to bring a more equitable distribution of existing posts between schools. The new arrangements incorporate a long overdue updating of the GAM (learning support) allocation for all schools. This inevitably involves changes to existing clustering arrangements whereby a teacher is shared between schools. A further change is that schools in any locality are being empowered to cluster and arrange their GAM resources in a manner that best suits their local needs. This should be completed by schools by 16 March.
There are also new and separate arrangements for how resource hours for individual pupils are converted into teaching posts in schools. The requirement for resource hours in a school varies from year to year depending on the number, if any, of its pupils with autism etc. Small schools generally have a lower requirement for resource hours. The new arrangements take account of the later timescale for the allocation of these hours necessitated by individual assessment by the NCSE. All of the changes are designed to enable a more efficient operation of the teacher allocation and redeployment process in the new climate of a fixed ceiling of teacher numbers.
The staffing circular 0007/2012 also includes details of an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeal Board. The closing date for submission of appeals for the April meeting of the Staffing Appeal Board is 23 March, 2012. Schools must also submit to my Department by 16 March, 2012 a redeployment form for any teacher surplus to requirements who is eligible to be placed on the redeployment panel. It is intended that the Appeal Board meeting will take place on Wednesday 18 April, 2012 which will be prior to the release of the main redeployment panel and allow for any impact of the Board's decision on redeployment panels to be effected. The Appeal Board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.
The final staffing position for all schools will ultimately not be known until later in 2012. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed and any appeals to the Staffing Appeal Board will have been considered.