3.11.1)                  Selection Committee for the appointment and promotion of teachers

The Selection Committee is constituted from time to time as required by the Board of Management.

In Community Schools it consists of five persons, as follows:-

·         2 Nominees of the Religious Trustees;

·         1 Nominee of the Vocational Education Committee;

·         the Chief Executive Officer of the VEC or her/his personal nominee;

·         an Inspector of the Department of Education and Science nominated by the Minister. (The nominated Inspector should be drawn from an approved list of retired inspectors except where the appointment is that of Principal of a school with a student enrolment in excess of 500, in which case a practicing inspector must be nominated)

In Comprehensive Schools which are under the joint patronage of the local VEC and of the Catholic Bishop of the diocese, the Selection Committee consists of:

·         2 Nominees of the Bishop Trustee;

·         1 Nominee of the Vocational Education Committee;

·         The Chief Executive Officer of the VEC or her/his personal nominee;

·         A DES Inspector or an agreed person with appropriate educational experience.

The Trustees should have regard for gender representation when establishing a Selection Committee. The Secretary should advise the Trustees of their obligations in this regard.

To function in its role the Committee must have at least three of its members present. It must at all times, irrespective of numbers present, include the nominated Inspector of the Department of Education and Science (or the educationalist in the case of Comprehensive Schools). The Chairperson of the Selection Committee is appointed from among its members and as agreed by them.

The role of the Selection Committee is to consider applications received, to short-list and to place all suitable candidates in order of merit. [Deed of Trust, Articles of Management, Pars. 7A(iii) and (iv)]

Note 1: The Selection Committee, as described above, must be used for all appointments to Permanent Wholetime, Temporary Wholetime, Regular Part-time and Part-time teaching posts of 26 weeks or more and for appointments to Posts of Responsibility.

3.11.2)                  The Interview

The Selection Committee interviews applicants on behalf of the Board of Management. The Board, through the Principal, should apprise the Committee of its requirements. Arrangements should be made for the Selection Committee to hold a preparatory meeting of at least 30 minutes prior to the commencement of interviews. The Secretary should retain a minute of this meeting.

The functions of this meeting should include:

• election of a Chairperson;
• agreeing criteria for appointment;
• allocating responsibility for areas of questioning;
• agreeing a method of scoring the performance of candidates;
• clarifying the requirements of the school.

Selection criteria would normally take into consideration factors such as: qualifications, experience, performance at interview, insight into the job, commitment and enthusiasm, interest in extra-curricular activities, etc.

The interview must not include any questions which could be deemed to suggest bias of a gender, religious, racial, political or ageism nature. Questions about marital status, family and children, political allegiance and religious affiliation are not permitted, and, if asked, can cause claims to be taken under Equality Legislation. Each candidate should be asked questions similar in nature to those asked of other candidates.

It is advisable that the Secretary to the Selection Committee should retain a record of the areas of questioning in the case of each applicant interviewed.

3.11.3)                  Selection Process

The following procedure should be followed in the appointment of teachers.

Applicants shall be invited to submit Curriculum Vitae or be furnished with an application form (as appropriate). A copy of the conditions and terms of the appointment shall be available on request. Application forms shall not have any questions which seek to elicit information about a candidate’s religious or political affiliations, sexual orientation or marital status.

The applications received for a vacant post shall be considered by the Board of Management who shall forward all applications to the Selection Committee. This task is normally delegated to the Secretary of the Board of Management or to the Principal of the school.

The Selection Committee shall establish criteria for short-listing, which shall take cognisance of such factors as eligibility and qualifications, shall draw up a short-list from applications received and shall call for interview the candidates on that short-list. Candidates should be given a minimum seven days notice in writing of interview.

Note: The Teaching Council is the designated authority for the recognition of professional teaching qualifications in Ireland and is the competent authority for the recognition of qualifications gained in a State outside of the EU. Where any doubt exists with regard to the acceptability of qualifications, the Department of Education and Science should be consulted before an appointment is made.

The Selection Committee shall interview the short listed candidates to determine their suitability for appointment and to list suitable candidates in order of merit. The list shall be submitted, with a report signed by all members of the Committee, to the Board of Management. The Committee’s report shall state the number of applications for the post, the number of applicants short-listed and invited to interview and the number of those who attended.

The Board of Management “shall have regard to the order of merit settled by the Selection Committee and shall make appointments in accordance therewith” [Deed of Trust, Articles of Management, 7A (c) (v)]. This in effect means that the Board should appoint the person named as first in the order of merit. If the Board decides there is good and sufficient reason for not accepting the order of merit, the matter must be referred to the Minister for Education and Science for determination.

If the first person in the order of merit, having been offered the appointment by the Board, declines to accept the appointment, the Board may then offer the appointment to the second person in the order of merit and thus continue the process until the post is accepted. If the order of merit is exhausted without anyone accepting the post, then the post should be re-advertised.

Letters of offer from the Board of Management should clearly state that the appointment is subject to the subsequent approval of the Department of Education and Science and to appropriate Garda Vetting. The letter should also advise the candidate that resignation from any current appointment should await the Department’s confirmation of the post being offered.

Garda Vetting of teachers will normally be arranged by the Teaching Council at the time of registration.

If the appointment is for a fixed term, the terminal dates of the period of appointment should be stated.

On accepting the post, the successful candidate should be required to sign a contract as outlined in sections 3.1.6.

Letters of offer should specifically state that written confirmation of acceptance of the offer is required by a certain date.

All unsuccessful candidates, whether interviewed or not, should receive a letter from the Board of Management thanking them for their applications and informing them of the result of the applications.

3.11.4)                  Seeking Sanction for Appointment

The Department of Education and Science (Teachers’ Section), Athlone, should be informed by letter, without delay, of the offer/s made and accepted. The letter should request the DES to formally sanction the appointment/s.

This letter should be accompanied by the following documentation:-

• Completed Appointment Form/s.
• Form S/CC for new incremental teachers (PWT, TWT, RPT) including Principal and Deputy Principal.
• Form S/CC1 for reappointed, or upgraded, incremental teachers.
• Documentary evidence of Teacher Registration with the Teaching Council and of Garda Vetting.

(The Board of Management is required to verify original evidence of qualifications as set out in the application form and should retain copies of certificates, etc.)

• Confirmation of Medical Fitness to Teach

The Department of Education and Science requires that any new appointee to an incremental position should undergo a “Fitness to Teach” assessment in accordance with procedures set down in DES Circular Letter 65/2008. Such assessment is provided by Medmark Occupational Healthcare which has been contracted by the DES to supply an Occupational Health Service for teachers.

The Department of Education and Science will require any teacher who is resuming teaching after a 2-year break in service to undergo a medical examination.

• Copy of Selection Committee’s Report.
• Copy of the Minutes of the Board of Management meeting at which the Selection Committee’s Report was considered and the appointment/s made.

3.11.5)                  References

It is a requirement of the appointment process that character references in respect of each proposed appointee are furnished to the Board of Management. References from relatives are not acceptable and applicants should be advised that all referees and previous employers may be contacted unless the applicant requests otherwise.

3.11.6)                  Teacher Qualifications

The numbers and classifications of teaching staff in the school are decided by the Board of Management from time to time, subject to the prior approval of the Minister for Education and Science.

For appointment to a Community or Comprehensive school, a teacher must be eligible for registration as a second level teacher by the Teaching Council. Full details of registration requirements are set out on the Teaching Council website at www.teachingcouncil.ie/registration_information.

Appointments of teachers in Community and Comprehensive Schools are “Subject Specific”. This means that the teacher to be appointed must have the subjects specified in the job specification to degree level.

Eligibility for appointment as a Learning Support (formerly Remedial) Teacher requires:

• Eligibility for Registration as a Second Level Teacher as above.

and

• An approved qualification in Special Education

In appointing teachers to cater for students with Special Educational Needs preference should be given to applicants who, while suitable in all other respects, hold a relevant post-graduate qualification in the area of special needs education. This does not preclude the appointment of otherwise qualified teachers to teach students with special educational needs. (see DES CL PPT 06/04)

Details of approved training courses in Learning Support and in Special Educational Needs are contained in DES CL’s 13/03 and 16/03 respectively

.

Qualifications, which do not fall within the scope of those specifically listed as acceptable, should be cleared in advance of interviews with the Teachers Section of the Department of Education and Science, Athlone. In this respect, Boards of Management should note that the recognition of the qualifications of teachers recognised in other member states of the EU is regulated by Council Directive 89/48 which was transposed into Irish Law by the Statutory Instrument No. 1 of 1991. Under the regulations laid out in this Instrument, it is the responsibility of the designated authority to consider applications to take up or pursue professions within the State subject to certain conditions set out in the regulations in accordance with the Directive. The designated Authority in the case of Community and Comprehensive Teachers is the Minister for Education and Science. Accordingly, any application from a teacher with an EU qualification should be referred to the Minister in advance of interview.

3.11.7)                  Probation

All appointments made to permanent whole-time teaching posts are made on a probationary basis for a period of one year. This should apply whether the appointee is an entrant to the teaching profession or an experienced teacher transferring from another school.

Appointments to temporary whole-time teaching posts are usually for a fixed term or for a specified purpose. The application of the Unfair Dismissals Acts to such contracts of employment may be excluded if the termination of the contract consists only of the expiry of the fixed term without it being renewed and the contract:

• is a genuine fixed term /specified purpose contract;

• is in writing;

• is signed by both parties, and

• expressly provides that the Unfair Dismissals Act shall not apply to a dismissal consisting only of the expiry of the said term.

• If the temporary whole-time appointment is for a period exceeding one year, the appointment may be made on a probationary basis for one year.

This provision may also apply to Regular Part-time appointments.

Once the probationary period is satisfactorily served, the appointment is deemed complete and the teacher should be informed of this in writing.

With regard to probation, it is essential that at the time of appointment a teacher is advised by the Board of Management in writing: -

• that the appointment is probationary;
• the period of the probation;
• the expectations related to the probationary service in terms of teaching competence/skills, discipline, relations with pupils and colleagues;
• that service will be assessed regularly during the year of probationary service by the Principal in accordance with the expectations of the Board.

It is important that probationary teachers are given regular reports on their service. Such reports, especially if they are negative, should be in writing, and the probationary teacher should be afforded an opportunity to respond to them. The teacher should also be given advice and assistance by the Principal, or by experienced teachers nominated by the Board for that purpose, on how to meet the expectations of the Board of Management.

3.11.8)                  Induction

Boards of Management are advised to provide formal induction for newly recruited staff. Induction should cover: -

• terms and conditions of the appointment, which, in accordance with the Terms of Employment Information Act, 1994, must be given to the employee within two months of appointment
• rules and regulations (both Department of Education and Science and in-house)
• the professional codes of conduct set down by the Teaching Council.
• school procedures in respect of teacher/pupil relations, teacher/teacher relations and teacher/management relations
• the School Plan
• teaching competence and skills required for the position.

Many schools provide teachers with handbooks which contain details of procedures, personnel roles, calendar of events, etc. Boards may also decide to establish a support system, such as mentoring, and to organise an Induction Day for newly appointed teachers.