John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 101: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is satisfied that the professional development service for teachers support service is best placed to provide in service to teachers; if he is further satisfied that there is a reasonable spread of primary and post-primary PDST staff throughout the six education regions in the country; if he will review the imbalance of primary and post-primary teachers in PDST nationwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12923/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The PDST is a team of seconded teachers, which offers professional development support to primary and post-primary teachers on a wide range of topics. The PDST was established in September 2010, following a reconfiguration of the support services in existence prior to that date. 2011 is the first full year of the operation of the PDST, and the service will be centrally involved in implementing measures to improve literacy and numeracy from the 2011/2012 school year.

The PDST team was established following a competitive process where serving secondees in the 2009/2010 school year were invited to apply for a position in the new service. The successful candidates were chosen on merit, and are able to operate on a generic and cross-sectoral basis. I have no plans to review the results of this competitive process. The distribution of staff across the 6 Education Centre regions is weighted according to the number of schools in these regions. This distribution is subject to review as needs evolve and on consideration of any advice from PDST management in relation to emerging pressures.