Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 February 2017
202. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of substitutable days whereby no substitute teachers were employed in primary schools for the school years 2015-16 and 2016-17 to date, by year and whether the school in question is a special school, in tabular form. [4884/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested by the Deputy is being prepared by my Department and it will be forwarded directly to her.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A:
I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 4884 of 2017 in which you sought the number of substitutable days where no substitute teachers were employed in primary schools for the school years 2015/2016 and 201612017, by year and by whether a school is a special school in tabular form.
In my reply, I had stated that the information sought was not available at the time but would be forwarded to the Deputy separately. I am now in a position to provide the relevant information for the relevant school years.
The Online Claims System (OLCS) is the system designed to enable schools to record all absences (substitutable and non-substitutable) for all Staff Members paid directly on the Departments payroll and to make claims for substitution.
The information is as follows:
|
Dates |
Overall number of substitutable Days in all schools including special schools |
Overall number of substitutable days where no substitute claimed in all schools including special schools |
Overall number of substitutable clays where no substitute was claimed in special schools only |
|
1/9/2015 - 30/6/2016 |
939,840 |
65,871(7.01%) |
4,148(0.44%) |
|
1/9/2016 - 22/12/2016 |
353,341 |
26,817 (7.59%) |
1,451 (0.41%) |
The information outlined was obtained from my Department databases. The number of non-substitutable days is not fully accurate as it is not possible to separate out the absences where no substitutes were employed due to the nature of the leave absence/teacher appointment recorded on the system. Some of the reasons as to why there is no substitute claim recorded against a substitutable absence are:
Professional Teacher Development - In some cases the schools were closed as teachers attended in service training for the new primary curriculum. These absences are recorded as professional teacher development and as such is normally a substitutable absence but if the school is closed for the training then no substitute is employed.
Force Majeure/lllness in Family - The first day of this leave absence is not substitutable.
Self-Certified (Uncertified) Sick Leave - This leave is no longer substitutable except in smaller schools for multiple absences on the same day
Job-Sharing - If a teacher is job-sharing and goes on leave for e.g. Maternity Leave, Sick Leave their leave is entered in one block and there will only be a substitute recorded for that teacher for one week out of every two as their job-sharing partner is working the other week.
Visiting Teachers - These teachers must have their leave recorded on OLCS but due to the nature of their posts they may not always be replaced by a substitute.
Teachers with Regular part-time Contracts of less than 25 hour e.g. Teacher absent on maternity/sick leave etc. with a contract of 10 hours per week. The leave is entered for the total absence but less than 5 days per week are substitutable, leaving the other days of the week displaying as no sub used.
Principal Release - A number of these days are covered by the Principals release supply panel. Currently there are a number of temporary teachers employed who cover these absences across a number of schools. These absences are recorded but no substitute is required.
Panel - If a teacher is on a redeployment panel and goes on maternity leave they have a maternity leave exemption’ and a substitute is not employed but the leave is recorded
I trust this clarifies the position.
