Press Releases

Panel of Supply Teachers

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

 
Statement by Sheila Nunan, Incoming General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, On Panel of Supply Teachers
 
INTO: Decision to axe panels of supply teachers must be reversed
 
The INTO has called on the Education Minister to reverse plans to abolish panels of supply teachers around the country.
 
The primary teachers’ union described the decision in Budget 2010 to discontinue the Teacher Supply Panel scheme as “educationally short-sighted and economically unsound”. Approximately 60 teaching posts will be lost in schools throughout the country next September if the cut goes ahead despite the promise in the revised programme for government not to change the pupil teacher ratio.
 
Under the scheme which operates in various parts of the country, a panel of supply or substitute teachers is established in one school. These teachers then cover teacher absences in a number of schools when required. Schemes are in operation in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, Mayo and Wexford.
 
The union condemned the axing of the supply teacher scheme saying it would increase workload for principals in those schools and make the sourcing of substitute teachers more difficult and result in a reduced education service to children.
 
“Instead of searching, often unsuccessfully, for substitute teachers who may be available to cover a teacher’s absence due to illness, principal teachers are able to call on a fully trained teacher they know to cover the class” said Sheila Nunan, incoming General Secretary of the INTO.  
 
“It ensures consistency for pupils and schools and most of all, makes sure that children are taught by trained teachers. It is the best educational alternative for children when their own teacher is unavoidably absent.”
 
According to Ms Nunan, the proposal to axe the scheme could actually end up costing additional money. She claimed that if the scheme is scrapped many schools may end up employing substitute teachers at a far higher cost than under the scheme.
 
She said also said the scheme provided consistency of employment to teachers who without it would be forced onto the dole or into emigration. “We cannot afford to lose highly qualified teachers to other countries when we have one of the most under-funded systems in any developed country.”   
 
The INTO said such schemes operate successfully in most EU countries and provide continuity of teachers to pupils and schools.
 
Ms Nunan said, instead of axing the scheme the Minister should be extending it to other parts of the country, particularly disadvantaged and rural schools which often experience difficulty employing substitute teachers for short periods or at short notice.
 
ENDS.