1st February, 2010.
The Secretary,
Board of Management and
School Principal in
each Community and Comprehensive School.
Members of the Executive and Trustees of ACCS.
ACCS/Info Bulletin 06/10
Re: Days lost due to harsh weather conditions.
The Executive of ACCS at its most recent meeting on Thursday January 28th has discussed the issues arising from loss of school days due to inclement weather conditions, loss of water and Ministerial directive following the Christmas break. We have also been in discussions with Department of Education & Science officials concerning the issues. We note also the reported comments in the media of the Minister for Education and Science on the topic. It is clear from these that there will be no compulsion on using any additional days to make up the time lost.
The consensus among the parties is that each individual school should carefully consider the effects of the loss of tuition at Board of Management level. Following this consideration the Board should consult with the relevant partners, particularly teachers, students and parents, to see how any shortfalls identified can be made up. In particular, it would be most important that the school is in a position to ensure that the various curricula for each year group, and especially those sitting for Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate can be completed before the end of year.
If there are areas where changes to normal practice can be made to facilitate such work then by agreement of the partners this should be accomplished. Areas where such time might be made up would include foreshortening of mock-examinations and an agreement with exam classes that they would attend all classes until the end of May.
Allocation of Additional Teaching hours in the New Year.
The Department of Education & Science in consultation with the education partners has agreed how the 100 additional teachers will be deployed in schools. The DES have assured us that you will have this additional allocation on Monday February 1st . In simple terms there will be a rule change in respect of the learning support allocation, where schools below 600 students will now receive .7 instead of .5 and schools of 600 and over will receive 1.2 instead of 1.0. Please note that this .2 addition is allocated from this date and not from September, 2009.
Please note the following from C/L 0055/2008 in respect of the allocation of such hours:
* As far as possible, employers should give consideration to requests by workers to transfer from part-time to full-time work or to increase their working time should the opportunity arise. In doing so, as with all teaching appointments, employers must have regard to the curricular needs of the school and the qualifications required for the post.
5.1.1 Where the school has unassigned hours these may be offered to a part-time CID holder on a fixed term basis. A separate fixed term contract shall be offered in respect of these hours. In doing so, as with all teaching appointments, employers must have regard to the curricular needs of the school and the qualifications required for the post. In the event of these hours continuing for 4 years, they will be subject to assessment for a contract of indefinite duration in accordance with paragraph 4.2.
Is mise,
le mór mheas,
____________________
Ciarán Flynn,
GENERAL SECRETARY.