Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will list the total number of teaching posts due to be removed from a school (details supplied) in County Dublin; if he will provide an explanation for the loss of these posts; when these posts will be removed from the school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13151/12]

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Labour)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the expected savings from the decoupling of learning support and learning resources from primary schools; the way these savings were calculated; if proper account was taken of extra costs involved in having support and resource teachers travelling to and from schools and for the loss in productivity from the time expended on such travel; if account was taken of the loss of personal knowledge of pupils that may result; if account was taken of the effect on children from having learning support delivered in longer classes over the course for one or two days as opposed to it being provided in shorter periods over five days; the effect it is thought that this will have, if any, and who was consulted on this; if he will provide detail behind all answers particularly on any documents relating to potential outcomes on children envisaged by these changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13187/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 62 together.

The staffing arrangements for the 2012/13 school year are set out in Primary Circular 0007/2012 which is available on my Department's website. This includes the detail of the reform of the allocation process which is designed to bring a more equitable distribution of existing posts between schools. The new arrangements incorporate a long overdue updating of the GAM (learning support) allocation for all schools. This inevitably involves changes to existing clustering arrangements whereby a teacher is shared between schools. A further change is that schools in any locality are being empowered to cluster and arrange their GAM resources in a manner that best suits their local needs. This should be completed by schools by 16 March.

There are also new and separate arrangements for how resource hours for individual pupils are converted into teaching posts in schools. The requirement for resource hours in a school varies from year to year depending on the number, if any, of its pupils with autism etc. Small schools generally have a lower requirement for resource hours. The new arrangements take account of the later timescale for the allocation of these hours necessitated by individual assessment by the NCSE. All of the changes are designed to enable a more efficient operation of the teacher redeployment and recruitment and to reduce the impact of travel time between schools where teachers are shared.

My Department will be working with schools and the relevant education partners to ensure that the new arrangements operate as efficiently as possible. As the process proceeds this work can take account of any appropriate local arrangements that might be made to further optimise travel arrangements. The staffing schedule also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeal Board. Details of the criteria for appeal are contained in Primary Circular 0007/2012.

The existing staffing appeals criteria have been extended to cater enable limited phasing arrangements for schools where the combination of budget and reform measures impact on a particularly adverse manner on a school's overall allocation. Schools that are due to lose 3 or more posts as a result of a combination of the budget and reform measures will be able to apply to the Staffing Appeals Board with a view to seeking to have a portion of the loss in posts deferred to the 2013/14 school year. The closing date for submission of appeals for the April meeting of the Staffing Appeal Board is 23 March, 2012. The Appeal Board operates independently of the Department and it's decision is final.

The final staffing position for all schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy, will ultimately not be known until the Autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed for mainstream classroom teachers and any appeals to the Staffing Appeal Board will have been considered.