Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2024
290. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education what the appeals process is for an administrative error resulting in the incorrect categorisation of a teacher's fee fund application resulting in a significant financial loss as happened in a case of a teacher (details supplied); and if her Department could make inquiries to help rectify the issue. [4231/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe purpose of the Teacher Fee Refund Scheme (“the TFRS”) is to provide funding to teachers towards the cost of course participation and examination fees on successful completion of professional development courses. The refund provided to successful applicants is a percentage of their fees, with each recipient getting the same percentage refund. No applicant receives a full refund. In order to prioritise teachers’ professional learning in areas clearly linked to learning, teaching and assessment, 80% of funding is allocated to relevant programmes in line with Departmental policy priorities (these areas are set out in the annual circular). The remaining 20% of funding is allocated to “other“ qualifying programmes which are not specifically linked to Departmental policy priorities. The successful applicants whose courses fall into the “other” category receive a lower percentage refund than those whose courses are identified as being linked to Departmental policy priorities.
The application form for the TFRS requests applicants to indicate if the course which they are completing falls under any of these priority areas. The circular also advises that “[i]t is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that the application form is fully completed, signed and accompanied by all relevant documentation”. Clare Education Support Centre (“CESC”) administers the TFRS on behalf of the Department of Education, and processes applications based on the information supplied by applicants. In this case, CESC has advised my Department that when filling out their application form, the applicant ticked the box marked “other”, meaning they did not identify their course as relating to one of the priority areas. Consequently, the applicant’s refund was calculated on this basis.
The application process provides an opportunity to review and amend inputted data prior to submission. The applicant also signed the “Teacher Fee Refund Scheme Applicant Declaration”, which must be signed by all applicants, confirming that the information entered in their application was “accurate, complete and correct”. Due to the large volume of applicants to the TFRS, the administrators are not in a position to review the accuracy of each specific piece of information entered by each applicant.As such, and as the total allocation for the TFRS in 2023 has now been expended, payments under the scheme for the relevant year have been closed.However, my Department will engage with the TFRS Steering Committee and administrators to review this matter and will engage directly with the applicant concerned on the outcome of that review.
