Section 37 of the Education Act 1998 provides the statutory basis for Education Support Centres and outlines the policy framework underpinning their recognition and functions, funding, staffing and governance. The Act empowers me as Minister to make regulations relating to the operation of centres including the appointment and remuneration of staff which includes the post of director.
The regulations I recently promulgated under Section 37(6) of the Education Act underpins my Department's policy for the secondment of teachers to Education Support Centres. These regulations comply with relevant legal and policy requirements.
Officials of my Department communicated the introduction and the rationale for the regulations to the Education Centres, ATECI as the representative body for Education Centres and the teacher unions. Officials met with ATECI and one of the teacher unions and received a written submission from ATECI.
By way of background, my Department arranges for the secondment of teachers from their teaching posts for the purpose of developing and providing CPD for teachers and for the appointment as Directors of Education Support Centres (ESC's). Secondments are a temporary arrangement renewable on a year to year basis. While on secondment, teachers retain their school post, the terms and conditions that apply to teachers and receive their salary and a secondment allowance which are met in full by my Department.
In 2010, a new policy of secondment was introduced which included a new limit on secondment numbers and established an upper limit of 5 years on the length of a secondment, following which the Directors return to their posts either as a teacher or an inspector. The policy was agreed by the then Minister for Finance Mr Brian Lenihan T.D., and the then Minister for Education and Science, Mary Coughlan T.D.
There are many benefits from the revised policy for teachers, their boards of management and the system as a whole. Because an upper limit of 5 years now applies to secondments, there is:
- confidence that the teachers involved in the delivery of CPD have recent experience of the curriculum and of the school environment
- certainty about secondment parameters which assist individual teachers and their boards of management in planning
There are more opportunities for teachers to take on career enhancing roles in the support services and the Centres. Teachers returning to their school after a period of secondment have the potential to enrich their school environment and they become eligible to take on subsequent secondment opportunities after a period back in their school.
Regular turnover of seconded teachers is now an established practice with teachers returning to enrich their schools so the investment in their skills is not lost. Since 2010, 10 Education Centres have successfully recruited new Directors and the work of the Centres has not been negatively affected.
