Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding teaching posts at a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30827/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers, for allocating teaching staff and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to special schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Departments criteria in allocating such support. My Department's Circular 0042/2011 was issued in June this year to notify school management authorities of the staffing arrangements which would apply in special schools in the 2011-12 school year. The circular states that there are a small number of special schools which have significant excess teacher posts and that the NCSE may therefore contact such schools to review the individual circumstances in these schools. The circular indicated that the NCSE may suppress a post in schools which have excess teaching posts in order to create a post in a school which does not have excess posts and which has growing pupil numbers.

The special school referred to by the Deputy caters for pupils with severe or profound disability and ASD. The correct teacher allocation ratio for schools catering for children with severe and profound disability is 6:1. In 2010-11, the school had seven approved class teaching posts, three surplus teaching posts and 28 SNAs. The enrolment is 38 pupils, including nine children newly enrolled for September 2011. One of the surplus teachers retired at the end of the last school year and the school is not eligible for a replacement. A further surplus post has been withdrawn leaving the school with one surplus post above recommended staffing allocation levels. It is the position of both my Department and the NCSE that given the exceptionally high levels of teaching and support staff which have been allocated to the school, that notwithstanding the outcome of any review, the school has sufficient support within its overall allocation to enable it to provide for the teaching and care support requirements of all of the children enrolled to the school.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary schools that are in line to lose a development school teacher in this academic year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30828/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule for the 2011-12 school year was published on my Department's website in March 2011. While mainstream staffing for any school year is based on the previous September's enrolment, there is a provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional mainstream posts on developing grounds, using projected enrolment. The retention of such posts in the current school year is subject to schools having achieved their projected enrolment on 30 September. If the enrolment is not achieved, the post allocated on developing grounds is suppressed. The staffing schedule includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent appeals board. Details of the criteria for appeal are contained in the staffing schedule, Circular 0019/2011. The primary staffing appeals board will consider appeals shortly, including those against the suppression of posts that were allocated on developing grounds. At that stage, the allocation process will be fully completed for all mainstream classroom teaching posts and those allocated on developing grounds. The appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.