Staffing report supported

Press, 7 June 1983, Page 8

Staffing report supported

The Secondary Staffing Report, due to be released this week, has already received positive much support from the community, according to the president of the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, Mr Des Hinch.

The report sets out a new system of staffing schools to replace the present one, established in 1946, and is the culmination of six years work by the Education Department, the Secondary Schools Boards’ Association, and the P.P.T.A. Mr Hinch said that the publication of the report was one of the most significant developments in education in the last 40 years.

It represented a triumph for co-operation and farsighted approach by- the three parties, saidhi Mr Hinch. 1

The present system of staffing was based on the number of pupils at a school, not on their needs or the needs of their community.

Schools were often blamed for not meeting the requirements their community/ set down. The new system would allow schools to meet the needs of today’s students. A consultative committee, established by the Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, was seeking ways of implementing the report, said Mr Hinch. It should be phased in gradually, he said.

There was a provision within the report to implement it in stages over a number of years. There was no suggestion that it should be used immediately.