Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has confirmed details of a revised plan for substitute cover for primary teachers next year, after major protests by teachers against proposed budget cuts.
Schools will be issued with circulars setting out interim arrangements for substitution in schools for rest of school year early next week, Mr O’Keeffe said today.
Widespread disruption over substitution cover in secondary schools was averted last week after the Minister and school managers reached a compromise deal. The Minister agreed to row back on some budget cutbacks on substitution cover after post-primary school managers agreed to €16 million in savings on substitution costs.
In a statement today, Mr O’Keeffe said substitute cover would be provided for primary school teachers on uncertified sick leave other than on the first day of absence.
“In a school where more than one teacher is absent on the first day of uncertified sick leave, substitute cover will be provided for the second and subsequent teachers that are absent.”
He said that in schools with two teachers or fewer, cover would be provided where any classroom teacher was absent.
The interim arrangements for primary schools have an estimated cost of €2 million, the Minister said..
He announced last week there woube a full review of the substitution and supervision scheme with a view to ensuring budgets are met.
“Last week the Minister indicated in the Dáil that he was prepared to approve interim arrangements for certain substitution cover in schools for the remainder of the current school year and to make limited additional funding available,” a statement said.
“Under these arrangements each post-primary school will have available to it a defined number of hours of substitution cover outside of the existing supervision and substitution scheme.”
The Education Together organisation welcomed the Minister’s move to address “some of the concerns” raised in relation to substitution cover for uncertified leave in primary schools.
“We would like to thank the Minister for listening to the views of primary management bodies, and for inviting us to make proposals to him on this matter,” it said in a statement.
“We would also like to thank senior officials in the Department for working with us to find a solutuion for some of the difficulties that would have been faced by voluntary boards of management in the second week in January.”
The Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) said the Minister's announcement was "a step in the right direction".
IPPN director Seán Cottrell said: "However, we are concerned about the actual workability of the plan in schools from a principal’s perspective as it still leaves children without a teacher during the first day of a teacher's absence. IPPN recognises that this is a short term plan only and we offer Minister O’Keeffe the practical experience of principals in finding a reasonable and cost-effective solution to this challenge."
Educate Together said it looked forward to participating in the review process announced by the Minister.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said the Minister’s ‘U-turn’ on teacher substitution was an admission that the Budget was “an attack on frontline services” and that children were paying the price for bad Government choices.
“I urge parents and teachers throughout the country to continue to put pressure on Fianna Fáil to reverse the unfair attacks on classroom sizes and the removal of vital services,” he said.
Green Party education spokesman Paul Gogarty said the announcement would come as welcome news to many schools who were “understandably concerned about the impact of the original proposed withdrawal of substitution cover”.
"I would be hopeful that more savings can be made in conjunction with the education partners in the near future and we fully support the Minister in his endeavours. However over the medium term the inescapable fact remains that investment levels in education will need to be further increased.”
Labour spokesman on education Ruairi Quinn described the deal as a "welcome row-back" by the minister for Education and Science, saying the initial plan was a "poor idea".
"The original plans to cut substitution for sick teachers would have had disastrous consequences had they been implemented. Since budget day, I have thought this idea, was so reckless that it could only have been thought up by the Department of Education,” he said.
Mr Quinn said he hoped the decision would be a permanent arrangement, rather than an interim one.
About 40,000 teachers, parents and other protesters gathered in Dublin to protest against education cuts last Saturday, following other protests throughout the country in recent weeks.