Teacher retention in Cloughduv
Deputy Moynihan warns that Cloughduv’s growing population may lead to the loss of a developing teacher post. Minister McEntee explains that staffing depends on enrolment thresholds but will monitor future numbers.
The village of Cloughduv has grown dramatically again in recent years, with many new homes built in Ryecourt Woods, River Meadows and the new Páirc Brouen, which is currently under construction. Parents and grandparents of children around Cloughduv are very anxious about losing a teacher in the school at a time when the village is growing and classes will end up being larger. The school had a developing post up to October based on the growing numbers of children and the expected enrolment. The enrolment increase has been delayed as families are waiting for keys to move into newly built homes, some of them due to be finished in the weeks and months ahead. The school and parents assure me that there will be additional children enrolling in the weeks ahead and have provided the Department with details of some of these children. They are asking that if the students are enrolling in the weeks ahead, the school would have its developing post reinstated instead of having to wait in crowded classrooms until next year.
Comment on this
I am aware of this case and the situation the school is in. The Deputy has outlined exactly the structure and system that has been in place for many years now setting out how schools can retain a teacher in a developing post. It is the case that this number needs to be reached and there is always a cut-off and a threshold. I appreciate that some schools will be just under it and some will be just over it but we do need to ensure that the system is upheld. If the school does not reach that specific number, the post is taken away from it. That is not to say that in the future, if the number of students increases again, it will not be looked at again when teacher allocations are being made. The system and structures that are in place have been there for some time. I appreciate that some schools will fall below the number but it is there for a reason, to make sure we can provide those allocations throughout the year and ensure it is done in the most fair way possible and applied in the same way for every single school.