Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the procedures in place for dealing with complaints from parents regarding individual teachers in school; and the advice that should be given to parents as to the way such complaints should be made. [28798/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the board of management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. In general, the Board has the responsibility to ensure that the school operates efficiently and effectively and also has responsibilities in relation to the action of its employees. My Department supports the principle that complaints regarding schools should be resolved at school level whenever possible and will only become involved in an investigation of specific complaints after every effort has been made to resolve the matter at local level.

The Board as manager of the school must manage the staff in the school and intervene when it considers necessary to resolve matters relating to the actions of its employees. The Board of Management is the employer and has similar powers to any other employer. My Department is not the employer and does not have an employer/employee relationship with teachers in schools. My Department cannot perform functions which are proper to the Board in relation to the management of the teaching staff of the school.

Currently, most schools use procedures that have been arrived at through national agreements negotiated between management authorities and teacher unions. Under the CPSMA/INTO and the ASTI/JMB procedures that are in common usage in primary schools and voluntary secondary schools respectively, the Board of Management may invite the complainant to address a meeting of the Board. The Chairperson of the Board of Management will normally chair this meeting. In general, similar procedures are followed by post-primary schools in the VEC and Community and Comprehensive sectors. If, following the completion of the complaints procedure and the issuing of a finding by the Board of Management of the school, the complainant remains dissatisfied, she/he may raise the matter with my Department.