Schools with large infant intakes may get extra staff

Schools with large infant intakes may be allowed extra staff to avoid putting them into larger classes later this year.

The move by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn comes in recognition of difficulties, particularly in areas of increasing population, with the system by which teachers are allocated each September based on the previous school year’s pupil numbers. This has led to schools being unable to allocate smaller class sizes to junior and senior infants, where teaching in smaller groups is recommended most as it allows an early focus on individual learning.

While growing schools will not get automatic entitlement to additional staff to facilitate smaller classes, Mr Quinn said he is adding a new rule on staffing appeals that schools can make against their teacher allocations each year.

“The appeals board will have some flexibility to provide an additional teacher to ensure that very large infant classes do not become a feature of these schools,” he told the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) annual conference.

He said panels of teachers eligible for redeployment should be published a month earlier than normal this year in March, giving schools earlier certainty on staffing for September. The first round of resource teacher allocations for next autumn should be announced in May by the National Council for Special Education, he told principals, after last year’s announcement in June caused difficulties for some schools.

While the concession on staffing should be of help to many growing schools, Fianna Fáil accused the minister of leaving hundreds of small schools open to further staffing cuts as previous budget measures continue to take effect this year. Its education spokesman, Charlie McConalogue, said claims that frontline services are being protected in Budget 2014 are misleading as 124 schools with four teachers or less are in line to lose teachers next September.

A spokesperson for Mr Quinn said the figure is unlikely to be that high but final numbers will only be known in autumn. He told the Dáil this week that 79 primary schools lost a teacher in the first year of a measure to increase pupil numbers needed by small schools to retain staffing levels, but their average class size of 21.3 pupils is less than the 24.7 national average..

Asked which of the 11 subjects on the curriculum he would drop to keep a focus on literacy and numeracy, Mr Quinn said he would take time from religion if he was a teacher and felt he needed to spend more time on literacy and numeracy. The Catholic Communications office said the minister has made such comments before and all education involves imparting of values.

The minister said he wants to see higher level Leaving Certificate maths as a requirement for entrants to primary teacher training. A pass in higher or ordinary level is the current minimum maths standard for school-leavers seeking entry to primary teaching degrees.