Almost 3,000 school secretaries are to receive back pay worth up to €5,000 later this year after signing up to new contracts.
Under the new pay deal, agreed in 2021, secretaries are being placed on the public service clerical officer scale, bringing an end to a 40-year-old, two-tier pay system.
At the annual conference of trade union Fórsa’s education section, Minister for Education Norma Foley told delegates that nearly 2,850 secretaries have accepted the deal. She said the calculation of back pay and the incorporation of national pay increases and increments into pay rates is ongoing.
“This should see back pay paid to secretaries by schools before the end of the school year and a new pay rate going forward with increments each year,” Ms Foley said.
The Minister said that from this September, all school secretaries who have opted into the deal will receive their first payslips.
Fórsa estimates that back pay, dating back to when the deal was agreed, will be worth up to €5,000 in some cases by the time it is paid.
Ms Foley also said a contract for up to 20,000 special needs assistants (SNAs), who meet students’ additional care needs, is being reviewed and a draft will be issued soon. It is expected to provide greater clarity on terms and conditions for SNAs, including the nature of their role in the classroom.
In his response to the Minister, Fórsa’s head of education, Andy Pike, called for clarity to be brought on these issues soon.
He said a 2018 review of the SNA scheme by the National Council for Special Education set out a new course for the provision of supports for students with additional care needs. It also proposed a “front-loading” allocation cycle, under which SNAs would be automatically allocated to schools based on their profiles.
However, Mr Pike said that five years after the review was published there had been “false starts and confusion”.
“We understand why front-loading cannot be implemented as it stands, and we know that the department has no wish to see significant turmoil or job losses for SNAs. However, the school sector does need to know what the future holds,” Mr Pike said.
He also told the Minister that the Government’s decision to end the ban on no-fault evictions would impact many Fórsa members.
Meanwhile, delegates backed a motion calling on the union to engage with the Government to provide immediate support to prepare school students with additional education needs for life after secondary school.
The union policy, backed unanimously by the 160 delegates attending the conference, seeks to ensure students can reach their full potential by accessing third level education, apprenticeships, training or workplaces.
Proposing the motion, Carol McSherry said SNAs were playing a vital role in assisting the students they work with to complete their education.
“We’re disappointed at the lack of support that exists for these students for the next stage of their life journey, so it is vital that the action points in the National Access Plan (a Government blueprint to boost the number of people with disabilities in higher eduction) are fully implemented,” Ms McSherry said.
Fórsa, meanwhile, launched its position paper on a “national progression framework” for students with additional care needs on Thursday afternoon, which seeks to boost support for children leaving school.
Ms Foley said the Department of Education was focusing on progression of students with additional needs after second level through a number of “transition programmes”.
