Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The State Examinations Commission has operational responsibility for the operation of the certificate examinations. Each year the SEC employs additional staff to deal with the peak demands of the system. These include temporary clerical officers, temporary porters, examination superintendents and examiners. The SEC will employ up to 75 temporary clerical officers and 17 temporary porters this year. All appointees to date and all those yet to be appointed have been and will be drawn from the register of unemployed persons maintained by the Department of Social Protection. Examination superintendents are drawn from a pool of experienced teachers. The SEC will appoint superintendents to 4,692 centres this year. It is a long standing policy that unemployed and substitute teachers are recruited first, before drawing on the wider pool of applicants. A total of 213 unemployed teachers and 574 substitute teachers have been appointed to date, and the process is ongoing. Appointments are made by the SEC on a county basis. Surplus applicants in one county are drawn on in a neighbouring county where vacancies occur. In addition, schools appoint some 7,500 superintendents directly to work in centres catering for students with special needs. The profile of these appointees is not held by the SEC. Examiners are recruited to mark candidates' scripts, oral and practical tests, and are recruited on the basis of their academic qualifications, examination and teaching experience. They are mainly drawn from the pool of practising teachers. Some 6,000 examiners will be employed in 2010. To date 190 unemployed teachers have been engaged by SEC for this purpose.

In the recruitment of temporary staff, the State Examinations Commission is committed to giving priority to unemployed persons to the maximum extent commensurate with ensuring appropriate expertise and quality in the operation of the examination system.

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