This article is from page 8 of the 2011-12-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
TEACHERS may have to be hired on a temporary basis to cope with retirements from Clare schools, a meeting has heard.
It has been predicted that a high number teachers will take early retirement in February.
According to the Association of Secondary School Teachers in Ireland (ASTI),
“Under the terms of the Croke Park Agreement, teachers who retire before February 29, 2012, will have their pension and lump sum calculated on ‘pre-cut’ salary – the salary they were earning before the pay cut imposed in January 2010.”
Clare VEC is waiting to see how many teachers take up the option in order to assess the impact on Clare schools.
At the December meeting of Clare VEC, Fianna Fáíl councillor, Peter Considine asked what contingency plans are in place to cope with teacher retirements.
“Hopefully there will be no disruption to students,” he added.
CEO George O’Callaghan told the meeting that teachers could be hired in a temporary capacity to take classes until the end of term.
Mr O’Callaghan said there should be no problems filling posts given the high level of unemployment in the country.
He said the VEC would examine the situation more closely in February.
Concern was also expressed over the impact of cuts to career guidance services announced in this month’s Budget.
Under the new system schools will have to provide the guidance service from within their general teacher allocation.
Mr O’Callaghan said the VEC would study the implications of the decision when to it receives its teacher allocation quota from the Department of Education and Skills in February.
“However he told the meeting that for schools in Clare and around the country, the cut “effectively means a de facto increase in the pupil teacher ratio”.
Mr O’Callaghan said the decision would have a varying impact on various schools, adding it would have “an upward impact on the pupil teacher ratio”.
In response to questions from Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF), Mr O’Callaghan pointed out that pupil teacher ratios would not increase at ‘disadvantaged’ or DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) schools around the county.