DELEGATES at the IVEA conference expressed concern that delays in implementing the early-retirement provisions of a recently agreed teachers' pay agreement could lead to schools being disrupted in September.
The revised Programme for Competitiveness and Work makes provision for around 400 primary and secondary teachers to take early retirement before the next school year. The grounds on which they can retire are professional difficulties, or being surplus to requirements due to declining pupil numbers or to the requirements of a changing education system.
The deadline for applications is June 30th. However, the circulars explaining the required procedures were issued late and have only arrived in schools in the last two weeks.
There are concerns that further delays will be caused by staff shortages in the Department of Education's Athlone office which handles this issue; by meetings of the joint committee - bringing together the Department, unions and management - which will make the decisions on who will get early retirement; and by the summer holidays.
One teachers' union leader said in Ennis yesterday such delays could lead to a situation where principals would be preparing timetables at the start of September for teachers who would not be there at the end of the month.
The IVEA general secretary, Mr Michael Moriarty, also expressed concern about the loss of four teaching hours per week for each new assistant principal who is appointed in the autumn and will be spending that time on administrative duties.
This would mean the equivalent of losing one teacher in the average school and four to five teachers in a VEC scheme. He called on the Department to provide funding for the employment of additional teachers to make up for this loss.