Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am replying to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Coughlan. I thank the Deputy for raising it and I will be glad to outline the general position regarding the supply teacher scheme at primary level.

The scheme was initially set up at primary level over 15 years ago when schools had difficulty obtaining the services of substitute teachers. It operates on the basis of an additional full-time teacher being allocated to a school to cover certified sick leave absences in that school and a cluster of neighbouring schools. If the teacher is not required in a school on a given day to cover sick leave absences, he or she generally assists with other work such as administrative duties. There are 60 posts allocated under the scheme. A value for money review was published in July 2006 and this found that approximately 60% of these teachers' time was used to cover sick leave absences, with the balance used in respect of various other school duties. This reflects the unpredictable nature of sick leave absences.

While there are benefits for schools in having these full-time teachers available to them, it is considered more cost-effective to use the normal substitution arrangements that apply to all other schools to cover sick leave absences instead of having a cohort of full-time teachers on call-----

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