Written Answers. - Parliamentary Debates - Houses of the Oireachtas

[Deputy Ruairí Quinn.]
Questions— 14 February 2012. Written Answers
bouring school. The new GAM allocations are being done in 5-hour blocks which is the equivalent
of the tuition time for a full school day. Teachers that are in shared posts between schools
can therefore operate local arrangements that enable their travel to a neighbouring school to
be done, where possible, from the start of the school day thus avoiding loss of tuition time.
Any re-clustering of learning support (GAM) and language support hours into full-time posts
will be operated at school level with schools having greater autonomy rather than the previous
Department led approach.
However, because of the later timeline for the allocation of resource hours by the NCSE,
schools will not be permitted to combine GAM and NCSE approved resource hours together
into full-time posts.
My Department will be notifying schools in the coming weeks of the new staffing arrangements
for 2012/13 school year.
Question No. 200 answered with Question No. 188.
School Staffing
201. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been
drawn to the concerns of a school (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a
statement on the matter. [7656/12]
202. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been
drawn to concerns regarding the future of a school (details supplied) in County Clare; and if
he will make a statement on the matter. [7659/12]
204. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will detail the
effect that the changes to staffing schedules for schools with less than four teachers as outlined
in budget 2012 will have on two teacher schools; if he will detail what will happen when such
a school is in line to lose a teacher, in view of the fact that departmental guidelines state that
you cannot have a one teacher school; if he foresees the closure of such schools or does he
envisage a situation whereby there will be one teacher schools or some other arrangement; and
if he will make a statement on the matter. [7682/12]
223. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position
regarding the retention of a teacher at a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he
will make a statement on the matter. [7889/12]
Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): I propose to take Questions Nos.
201, 202, 204 and 223 together.
My Department will be notifying schools in the coming weeks of the new staffing arrangements
for the 2012/13 school year. It will include detail of the staffing appeals process and
appeal criterion for those small schools that are projecting increased enrolments that would be
sufficient to allow them to retain their existing classroom posts over the longer term.
As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a
classroom teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between
September 2012 and September 2014. Even when all of these phased increases are
implemented, the threshold for small schools will still be significantly lower than the minimum
of 28 pupils that was required for the appointment of a second teacher in schools prior to the
mid-1990s.
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