Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 March 2022
77. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Education the additional supports that are in place to assist school principals to deal with the current wave of Covid-19 in circumstances in which there are absent staff, both teaching and SNA supports staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17005/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraA number of additional measures have been put in place to enhance substitute cover.
At primary level additional posts have been allocated to primary substitute teacher supply panels in areas where significant challenges in sourcing substitution continue, bringing the total to 680 posts on 142 panels, covering approximately 2,700 schools.
The supply panels’ work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers, such as Sub Seeker, the national substitution portal service operated by the Irish Primary Principals' Network and schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) providing professional master of education (PME) programmes have ensured flexibility in programme delivery to enhance the availability of PME students for substitute work. PME students have been advised to register with the Teaching Council and with Sub Seeker.
In addition, HEIs providing undergraduate programmes of primary and post-primary initial teacher education have agreed to facilitate the release of 3rd and 4th year student teachers to support schools.
To support this measure the Teaching Council has recently made regulations for the registration of 3rd and 4th years student teachers and is currently developing a system for their registration. Pending registration with the Council, these students are still classified as unregistered persons and are restricted to working for 5 consecutive days at any one time as provided for under S.I. 32 of 2014 subject and relevant Department circulars known as the 5-day rule. Pending the development of the system to facilitate their registration and in order to provide for them to substitute without this restriction I recently made amending regulations exempting 3rd and 4th year students from the ‘5 day rule’ restriction. This amendment is strictly time limited from 15th February 2022 and to 30th June 2022. The ‘5 day rule’ remains in place for the employment of all other unregistered persons.
At post-primary level a measure was put in place to allow teachers, if available, to provide up to a maximum of 35 additional teaching hours between 29th November 2021 and 28th February 2022. In order to continue to support schools to source substitution cover. This provision has been extended for a further period, allowing up to a maximum of a further 35 additional teaching hours between 1st March 2022 and 31st May 2022.
These measures are in addition to changes made in the career break scheme, to permit teachers on career break to do unlimited substitution , and changes to the job sharing scheme, to permit job sharing teachers carry out substitute work on the days they are rostered off.
The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated.
The allocation of an additional 1,165 SNAs announced in Budget 2022 is to meet the care needs of pupils in 2022 and will enable the establishment of new special classes, creation of new places in special schools, support children in mainstream classes for the 2022/23 school year.
Where circumstances change during the course of the 2021/22 school year that materially increase the level of care need in a school to the extent that the school can clearly demonstrate that it cannot be met within the existing SNA allocation, the school may apply to the NCSE for a review. Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website ncse.ie/for-schools.
Circular 0029/2021 has been published and advises schools of the arrangements for the allocation of SNAs for the 2021/22 school year.
