Department lifts teacher posts ban

THE Department of Education has lifted a ban on second-level schools filling teaching vacancies after finalising a deal on moving teachers in four schools due to close next month.

The move will bring relief to hundreds of non-permanent teachers in the country’s 740 second-level schools who were awaiting the outcome of discussions between the department, teacher unions and school management bodies.

While religious-run schools are usually not allowed to advertise for permanent jobs until this time each year, the ban on appointments for next September was also notified to the 340 schools in the vocational and community/comprehensive sectors earlier this year.

School boards may seek to fill vacancies created by staff retiring, an increase in student numbers or a need to increase teaching provision in certain subjects. The deal is the first stage in moves to bring about a new scheme to redeploy teachers in schools closing down or those who are surplus to requirements because of falling enrolments.

Up to now, there has only been a redeployment scheme for religious-run second-level schools. Teachers in vocational schools and community colleges could be moved to another school in the same Vocational Education Committee area, but there were no formal arrangements for staff in community and comprehensive schools.

Under the Towards 2016 social partnership deal, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) are committed to agreeing a The issue may become thorny as unions and school managers seek agreement on the finer details. The biggest complication will be over deciding seniority for promotions and whether length of service of a teacher moving to a new school will supercede the time existing staff have worked.