1,200 special needs posts face axe [npc.ie]
- Published: 31 July 2009
ALMOST 1,200 special needs assistants could lose their jobs in the next school year, based on preliminary figures from a review of 10,500 existing posts.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has reviewed the allocation of special needs assistants (SNAs) in almost one-in-four of the country's 3,900 schools since they re-opened after Easter.
The aim is to determine whether all SNA posts are justified, given the changing needs of some children they may be working with. The posts are sanctioned for children with disabilities who have special care needs, such as the need for help writing down homework.
An Bord Snip Nua has suggested that up to€60 million a year could be saved if their numbers were cut by 2,000. The recommendation was based on claims that some schools keep SNAs after the children to whom they were allocated leave, but the SNAs' main union IMPACT says this is an urban myth.
The Department of Education is also already carrying out a value-for-money audit of the service, which will cost €350m this year.
The NCSE review, due by the end of the year, is taking account of how many SNAs are likely to be needed for new children entering schools in September and the numbers no longer required for pupils who left school this summer.
But with those two figures almost matching each other every year, the proposed reductions arising from the review to date give an indication of the number of SNAs which the NCSE's special educational needs organisers (SENOs) consider are no longer needed because children's special care needs have diminished.
The review will resume in September but it has already suggested there should be 195 fewer SNAs working at the 647 primary schools visited so far. Applying these figures to all 3,160 mainstream primary schools, 952 less SNA posts would be sanctioned from next February, when any reductions arising from the review must be imposed.
At second level, 251 of the country's 730 schools have been reviewed, with the NCSE recommending 73 fewer posts be sanctioned. This suggests around 212 fewer SNA jobs across the second-level sector.
The combined estimate of a cut of 1,164 SNAs represents just over one-in-10 of these posts but IMPACT assistant general secretary Philip Mullen said it is likely to ballot SNAs for industrial action in September.
"The number of SNAs in our schools is based on assessments by the same organisation, it seems the only thing that has changed is that someone at a political level is looking to save money," he said.
"The recent letter from the Department of Education to tell schools they can keep existing SNA levels until the end of January is highly suspicious, designed to hide cuts when various other measures in the budget will be taking effect."
Schools to decide on closures over swine flu [npc.ie]
- Published: 31 July 2009
THE country's 4,000 schools are being advised to decide themselves whether they should close if a number of teachers are affected by swine flu.
With up to a quarter of the population estimated to be at risk of picking up the H1N1 virus, schools and colleges are among the public institutions to have been provided with guidelines by health authorities.
An information sheet, available on the Department of Education website, tells them they should continue to operate normally unless advised by Health Service Executive public health staff. On the question of high levels of staff absenteeism, they are told that the normal rules apply in the case of the swine flu virus.
The country's primary and second-level schools employ more than 60,000 teachers and about 20,000 support staff, while around 20,000 people work in third-level colleges.
"Decisions to remain open or to close having regard to the unavailability of staff due to illness in the event of an outbreak of Influenza A(H1N1), are a matter for each individual school or college authority, as is the case at present where any significant number of teachers are absent due to illness or the sudden onset of severe weather," the information sheet reads.
The advice for parents is that students should attend school as normal, unless they have any flu-like symptoms, and anybody who develops such symptoms at school or college should go home or be taken home by an adult, and their family doctor contacted.
If any student tests positive for swine flu, their school or college will be contacted by public health officials, who will advise possible actions, including whether a class group should stay at home or if the entire school or college should close.
Cónascadh comhlachtaí dearbhaithe cáilíochtaí agus ardchaighdeáin [DES P.R.]
- Published: 21 July 2009
D'fhoilsigh an tAire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta, Batt O'Keeffe, TD, páipéar comhairlithe inniu faoi chur i bhfeidhm chónascadh comhlachtaí dearbhaithe cáilíochtaí agus ardchaighdeáin.
Tá foilsiú an pháipéir chomhairlithe ag teacht i ndiaidh an fhógra i mBuiséad 2009 faoi chónascadh Údaráis Náisiúnta Cáilíochtaí na hÉireann, Comhairle na nDámhachtainí Ardoideachais agus Oiliúna, agus Comhairle na nDámhachtainí Breisoideachais agus Oiliúna, leis an gcomhlacht nua atá ag glacadh freagrachta chomh maith as an bhfeidhm sheachtrach dearbhaithe ardchaighdeáin atá ag na hollscoileanna.
Ag eascairt chomh maith as fógraí an bhuiséid, sainaithníonn an páipéar comhairlithe roinnt áirithe feidhmeanna gaolmhara de chuid Ollscoil Náisiúnta na hÉireann a fhéadfaí iad a aistriú go dtí an eagraíocht nua.
An scéal iomlán: http://www.education.ie/
An Bord Snip Nua - Report Documents [IPPN]
- Published: 17 July 2009
The Bord Snip Nua report has been published - below are links to:
An Bord Snip Nua - Statement by Eileen Flynn, General Secretary [CPSMA]
- Published: 16 July 2009
Response to the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes
(An Bord Snip Nua) - Statement by Eileen Flynn, General Secretary, CPSMA
CPSMA has grave concerns regarding the recommendations in the report, as they pertain to primary schools.
The proposed cut of 20% in capitation grant to primary schools means that Boards of Management will not have sufficient funds to discharge day to day costs and will seriously affect the ability of Boards of Management to run primary schools. The report does not seem to have taken into account the contribution of the 20,000 volunteers (i.e. members of Board of Management) who have managed and run the primary system over several decades up to the present at no cost to the state. Primary education has always been underfunded even during recent times of plenty. Boards have the statutory responsibility for managing schools but they cannot continue do so without adequate funding from the state.
The proposed increase in class size means that the individual child's education will be seriously affected and also targets those most in need.
more on: http://www.cpsma.ie/main.html
