Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. It is lovely to see the students in the Seanad. I passed them as I was walking down the corridor from the Dáil. They are welcome, as are their teachers.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. This affords me the opportunity to outline the position with regard to teaching redeployment schemes currently operating in post-primary schools. Teacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by the Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school managements annually and available on the Department website. The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for each individual school authority. The deployment of teaching staff in the school, the range of subjects offered and the quality of teaching and learning are, in the first instance, a matter for the school management authorities.

The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of surplus permanent teachers to schools where vacancies exist. Such a scenario may occur where enrolment drops in a school. This scheme includes provision for a teacher in a surplus school who wants to volunteer to redeploy from that school to another location, subject to the agreement of school management. This provision can be facilitated as a means of avoiding a compulsory redeployment. Ensuring efficiency in the annual redeployment processes is significant in terms of managing the overall teacher numbers.

Following discussions between the relevant stakeholders, a voluntary redeployment scheme has operated on a pilot basis in specific regions in recent years. Permanent teachers employed in these regions are given an opportunity to volunteer for a transfer to other areas in the country if such a transfer would create a vacancy that would facilitate the redeployment of a surplus permanent teacher in the region. To date, the pilot voluntary redeployment scheme has operated in 24 counties. The scheme assists the Department to achieve its objective of redeploying all the surplus permanent teachers. Teachers who applied under the scheme and were not facilitated with a transfer continue to have the option of applying for posts in their preferred location that are advertised in the normal manner.

Since the introduction of redeployment at post-primary level, more than 800 teachers have been redeployed, ensuring an equitable and fair teacher allocation system to all schools. The Department is mindful that, in selecting areas of the country for inclusion in the voluntary transfer scheme, it achieves its key purpose, which is to ensure that surplus teachers are successfully redeployed. Any future considerations around expanding or selecting new locations will be made in the context of the operation of the redeployment scheme.