The principal activity of Education Centres is to organise the local delivery of national programmes of teacher professional development on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. Centres also organise a varied local programme of activities for teachers, school management and parents in response to demand.
Education Centres are independent statutory bodies under Section 37 of the Education Act (1998) and are managed by voluntary Management Committees elected annually. Each Centre has a defined geographical area of responsibility. The Management Committee has a statutory function under the Act to manage the business and staff of the Centre. Each Management Committee may appoint a Director to manage and direct the work of the Centre. The Director is normally a teacher on secondment from his/her school. My Department pays the Director's salary through the central teacher’s payroll.
The Act empowers me, as Minister, to make regulations relating to the operation of Centres. On 1 September 2017, I promulgated the Education Support Centres (Appointment and Secondment of Directors) Regulations 2017, which puts the appointment of a Director of an Education Centre on a statutory basis. The appointment of a Director of an Education Centre can only be made in accordance with the Regulations. Under the Regulations the Management Committee must submit an application to me, as Minister, to hold a public competition when they seek to recruit and appoint a new Director.
The Centre in question formally applied to me under the Regulations to appoint a Director for the 2018/19 school year on 13 September, 2018 and this application has been approved. The post has been advertised and the recruitment process will be conducted by the Centre over the coming weeks.
My Department has met with the Management Committee and has agreed to provide substitution cover for the chairperson or a designated member of the management committee to be released from their school for 1 day per fortnight to assist with the discharge of the management committees’ responsibilities in managing the business of the Centre until it appoints a Director.
