IPPN

Published: 02 April 2012

The Primary Allocations Section of the DES has provided IPPN with the following update in relation to Circular 07/2012.
 
Is sinne le meas
 
Gerry Murphy & Sean Cottrell 

Clustering update
Following the school led clustering process there are now 3,978 full-time GAM/EAL posts. This represents over 96% of the overall total of 4,130 GAM/EAL posts.  The breakdown of the 3,978 posts is as follows:

• 2,660 of the posts are full-time posts in their own school.  This represents almost two thirds of the overall total number of posts.
• The balance of 1,318 posts are clustered and shared with other neighbouring schools

The remaining balance that is not yet clustered into full-time posts is equivalent to 152 posts.  Over the coming weeks the Department will assess the opportunities for clustering any of these residual GAM/EAL hours into full-time shared posts under a Department led clustering process.  The Department's Geographic Information System (GIS) will be used to assist this work. From an initial analysis it is clear that there is scope for more clustering to be done.   The relevant schools will be notified in due course of the outcome of this Department led clustering process. 
 
Click here for an updated version of Appendix C of the Department Circular 0007/2012 which now shows the following additional information:

• The list of the base schools for the 1,318 shared GAM/EAL posts
• The list of the 248 schools that have GAM/EAL hours (equivalent to 152 posts) that are not yet clustered.

If the GAM/EAL hours that are not yet clustered enable a more efficient clustering arrangement to be done then the Department will now facilitate an amendment by the relevant schools to their recently formed cluster arrangement. This should be done by the relevant schools contacting the Department within the next 2 weeks with details of the amended cluster arrangement. This can be done by e-mail at primaryallocations@education.gov.ie">primaryallocations@education.gov.ie.  The relevant schools will also be required to complete a new Form GAcluster2012 and return it to the Department.

Appeals Board Meeting
The first meeting of the Staffing Appeals Board will be on Wednesday 18 April 2012.  Schools will be notified as soon as possible after this date of the outcome of their appeal.
 
Redeployment Panels
The Department will wait until after the Appeals Board meeting before circulating  redeployment panels to panel operators.  This will avoid teachers being put on panels unnecessarily from any schools that are successful in the appeals process. The Department is aiming at this stage to circulate redeployment panels to panel operators during week commencing 23 April 2012. 
 
Return of completed redeployment forms to the Department for surplus permanent teachers
At this stage most of the redeployment forms have been returned to the Department.  The Department is currently contacting any remaining schools that have not yet returned the redeployment forms for surplus permanent teachers.

Notification of Vacancies to Panel Operators
Schools are required to have notified their permanent and fixed-term vacancies to their panel operators (diocesan secretaries etc.) by 16 March 2012.  Subsequent vacancies must be notified to panel operators within 5 days of  the vacancy becoming known to the school.

The Department will also be providing its own data on vacancies in individual schools to panel operators to assist the operation of the redeployment process. The early approval of developing posts and the already pre-approved network of full-time resource posts should assist this process.

In order to assist the operation of the redeployment panels the Department also intends to publish a school by school list of vacancies on its website. When redeployment panels are published the Department will be liaising closely and pro-actively with schools and panel operators to help get redeployment panels cleared as quickly as possible.

Temporary Local Arrangements
Because of the later timeline for the allocation of resource hours by the NCSE, schools will not be permitted to combine GAM/EAL and NCSE approved resource hours together into full-time posts.

However, the Department will be working with schools and the relevant education partners to ensure that the new arrangements operate as efficiently as possible so as to manage within the fixed ceilings on teacher numbers and also minimise any time lost as a result of travel between schools.
 
When the allocations and redeployment process is completed later in the Summer schools that have complied with the arrangements outlined in Circular 0007/2012 will be given some discretion to operate, where possible, their own temporary local arrangements in relation to the day to day work arrangements of teachers in full-time shared posts.

Over the coming weeks the Department will include some examples on its website of how the temporary local arrangements as envisaged in Circular 0007/2012 can operate at local school level.