Redeployment Panel Arrangements

Staffing in Mainstream Schools for 2011/12 as per Circular 19/2011

Introduction  Part I  Part II  Appendix B  Appendix C

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Redeployment and panel arrangements for teachers as per Circular 19/2011

Appendix C

Introduction

Primary Teachers redeployment will operate initially this year through the operation of each of the separate panels and having regard to the changes set out in Circular 19/2011 and the requirement to afford priority to permanent and CID holding teachers in line with the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014.
The changes set out in this document provide for the operation of the main panels as before but taking account of the need to

(i) prioritise permanent and CID holding teachers when filling vacancies and
(ii) to utilise, as required, fixed term vacancies in addition to permanent vacancies for redeployment purposes.

For the present, redeployment arrangements will continue to operate within existing diocesan panels and/or where a Patron accepts an application from a teacher for inclusion on a panel.
Subsequently it may prove necessary to make changes that will enable the redeployment of any teachers that continue to remain surplus after the initial phase. The Department is in discussion with the relevant education partners in relation to possible additional arrangements. The necessity for such changes will be better assessed when the initial phase of redeployment has taken place and the number of teachers still remaining surplus can be fully quantified. A further circular will issue in due course should it prove necessary to implement additional measures.

This document should be read in conjunction with the existing redeployment panel arrangements. While it uses terminology and language that largely relates to the operation of a diocesan panel it applies fully, mutatis mutandis, to all other panels.

The Department will update the guide to the operation of the panel arrangements into a single consolidated document that will be available, in FAQ format, on the Department’s website.

Prioritising permanent and CID holding teachers

1. Permanent and CID holding teachers who defer their panel rights in order to fill a fixed-term vacancy in their current school may continue to do so in the normal manner.
2. Fixed-term teachers may defer their panel rights in order to fill a fixed-term vacancy in any school only after the Department is satisfied that such posts are not required to be filled by permanent and CID holding teachers on the main panel. In the interim, these fixed-term teachers will remain on the relevant panel(s).
3. A discrete subset of the main panel will be created for permanent and CID holding teachers in order to ensure that vacancies are offered in the first instance to these teachers. This prioritisation of permanent and CID holding teachers must be done in all cases unless there is a legal impediment to the filling of the vacancy in this manner (e.g. statutory entitlement to a CID).

Filling of Vacancies

4. As stated in Circular 19/2011 vacancies within a 45 km radius must be offered to permanent and CID holding teachers on a main panel in the following order of priority:

• Permanent vacancies within a diocese • And where there are insufficient permanent vacancies fixed-term vacancies within a diocese that are either for the duration of the full school year or are sanctioned during September or October and are for the duration of the remainder of the school year.

5. Permanent and CID holding teachers who are redeployed to fill a fixed-term vacancy shall become an employee of the receiving school (but will retain their permanent status). However a redeployed teacher filling a fixed term vacancy may request that his/her redeployment in the following year is based within a 45km radius of either the current school or the receiving school.

Voluntary Transfers and Applications for inclusion on a panel from Teachers that do not have access to a redeployment panel

6. The provision for voluntary transfers between panels will continue as heretofore and is an important mechanism that can help to clear panels.
7. Surplus eligible permanent and CID holding primary teachers who do not have access to a redeployment panel will be required to apply for access to the relevant diocesan or other national panel that covers schools in their location. The Patron or panel operator will consider such applications on the same basis as applies to a voluntary transfer request.
Notification of vacancies
8. All schools are required to notify the Diocesan Education Secretary within the required timeframe of all permanent vacancies and all fixed-term vacancies that are for the duration of the full school year. Fixed-term vacancies within the diocese that are sanctioned during September or October and are for the duration of the remainder of the school year must also be notified to the Diocesan Education Secretary. The notification requirements apply at all times irrespective of whether or not the panel is in operation. The following are the relevant timeframes for the notification of vacancies to the Diocesan Education Secretary:

• Vacancies arising from the application of the staffing schedule must be notified within 5 working days from when the staffing schedule is published.
• All other vacancies must be notified within 5 working days of the vacancy becoming known to the Chairperson of the Board of Management or the School Principal.

Special National Panel

9. The special national panel applies in relation to the redeployment of certain categories of teachers to vacancies in special schools and also vacancies in primary schools in special classes and resource teacher (low incidence) posts. Vacancies in such posts must be offered in the first instance to permanent or CID holding teacher(s) on the special national panel before they can be filled in any other manner (unless there is a legal impediment to the filling of the vacancy in this manner e.g. statutory entitlement to a CID). Post-primary qualified teachers on the special national panel will be redeployed through the redeployment arrangements at post-primary level.

Compliance and Fairness

10. The revisions to the panel arrangements that were made in 2009 included provision for a panel officer to be appointed to deal with a panel impasse. If the relevant teacher on the panel is not the most junior teacher in the school then the panel officer in dealing with the panel impasse will now also have a power to direct the school to place, as an alternative, its most junior teacher on to the panel.
11. A teacher on a panel who is called for interview and refuses to attend will forfeit his/her panel rights and be removed from the payroll at the end of his/her contract period or at the end of the school year whichever is the earlier.
12. Compliance with these redeployment arrangements will be subject to audit by the Department.

Last updated: July 2011