Written answers

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Department of Education and Skills

School Staff

Photo of Sorca ClarkeSorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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460. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the arrangements in place regarding leave for pregnant teachers, SNAs and early years educators during the Covid-19 pandemic. [24026/21]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The general principles to apply to the management of COVID-19 includes the safety and welfare of school staff and the minimisation of the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning. The current COVID-19 arrangements in place for teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are outlined in my Department’s Circular Letter 0021/2021. The Circular caters for special leave with pay arrangements where a teacher/SNA has been advised to self-isolate and cannot attend the workplace. It also caters for the working arrangements where a teacher/SNA has been advised by the HSE to restrict their movements or where the teacher/SNA has been categorised by the Occupational Health Service (OHS) as at a very high risk of serious illness from contracting COVID-19. In both these cases, the teacher/SNA remains available for work and must be facilitated by the employer to work remotely i.e. work from home. Upon the reopening of schools in March 2021, a pregnant teacher/SNA was advised by my Department to work remotely, pending further clarification from the HSE on their recently published guidance for pregnant employees in the education sector. Further details on the alternative working arrangements for a teacher/SNA working from home, is available at paragraph 4.1 of Circular 0021/2021.

My Department’s Information Note TC 0013/2021 published on 5thMay sets out the working arrangements for the ‘Very High Risk’ and also the pregnant teachers/SNAs for the remainder of the current school year and the 2021/22 school year. In relation to working arrangements for the current school year, paragraph 2.1 and 2.2 of Information Note TC 0013/2021 states:-

‘For the remainder of the 2020/21 school year, a teacher or SNA who has been categorised by the OHS as in the ‘Very High Risk’ group (including those who have been fully vaccinated), should continue to work remotely i.e. work from home.

Similarly, a pregnant teacher or SNA is advised to continue to work remotely i.e. work from home, for the remainder of the 2020/21 school year. A pregnant teacher or SNA is not required to be categorised by the OHS to work from home.’

It is expected that a pregnant teacher or SNA who is medically fit to do so, subject to new and updated guidelines from the HSE, will return to the workplace in the 2021/2022 school year.

Early learning and care services do not fall within my Department’s remit, and questions relating to that sector are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth.

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