Schools may be allowed fill management posts by Easter

SCHOOLS could be allowed fill some management vacancies by Easter to reduce what they call the crippling effect of a Government promotion ban, according to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

Second-level teacher unions stepped up industrial action on the issue last week, banning members from carrying out the duties of jobs left vacant by a middle management promotion ban in place since last April.

A survey published last month by second-level principals showed that some schools had lost almost all their posts of responsibility due mostly to retirements, whereas others had lost relatively few.

Mr O’Keeffe said there has been some progress in his discussions, first reported in the Irish Examiner last month, with Finance Minister Brian Lenihan on some exemption from the moratorium for schools worst affected.

“I’ve indicated that I accept that right across different schools there are imbalances in relation to the moratorium. We haven’t finalised [the discussions] but I hope we will be able to alleviate some of the real difficulty in schools as a result of the conclusion of those negotiations,” he said.

Asked if those negotiations would be concluded by Easter, he said: “I’m hoping so, yes.”

However, it is unclear if schools could immediately make any sanctioned promotions, which attract annual allowances ranging from €3,800 to €8,500 and cost more than €90 million for more than 17,000 such posts last year.

Groups representing second-level parents, school managers, principals and teachers claimed yesterday through the Post-Primary Education Forum that pupils’ wellbeing is in jeopardy because of the moratorium and urged Mr O’Keeffe to clarify when and how he intends to address it.

“Many of the posts left vacant provide vital pastoral care services. Year heads, for example, monitor pupil wellbeing, support pupils at risk and act as a point of contact for parents,” said National Parents’ Council Post-Primary president Jim Moore.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes has said that less than half of 78 school building projects due to have begun construction last year actually did so.

Figures given to him by Mr O’Keeffe show just 11 have been completed and 25 are under construction, with a dozen of the remaining 42 not yet at tender stage.

“According to the Department of Education, the delay in proceeding with the announced projects is due to a new type of public contract introduced in February 2008. While I accept this would have had an impact, it is intolerable that a lack of familiarity with paperwork is the reason for holding up the school building programme two years later,” he said.