Some content on this website is restricted to members only. It includes NABMSE Research reports and publications, consultation reports and other relevant documents.
If would like to become a member of NABMSE and would like to be part of the Voice of Special Education in Ireland, please check out the membership section.
Being a member of NABMSE ensures that you:
The DES has published their very comprehensive Staffing Circular (07/2012) on their website. This circular includes: Overview of Staffing arrangements for 2012/2013 Redeployment arrangements at primary level Background detail on the staffing arrangement for 2012/2013 Information on the Primary Staffing Appeals Board The Circular also gives the key dates in relation to the teacher allocations [...]
On Tuesday 28th February 2012, NABMSE are holding a seminar for Boards of Management in the Galway area. The topic of the seminar is ‘Practical Issues for Boards of Management’. This seminar is being organised to assist Boards in their work over their term of office. It is open to all Board of Management members and gives them an [...]
On Thursday 23rd February, NABMSE will hold a Consultation meeting with members on the proposed new Career Entry Professional Programme (CEPP) as published recently by the Teaching Council. As the rollout of this programme is an important issue for all schools, NABMSE hopes to have a good turnout by Boards of Management and Principals at this meeting. The [...]
On 3rd February 2012, the NCSE launched their policy advice paper on the education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Ireland. This policy advice from the NCSE maps out the future direction for the education of over 3,000 Deaf and hard of hearing children in Ireland. Launching the policy advice, Ms. Teresa Griffin, CEO of the [...]
The NCSE has recently published key dates for the application for and allocation of resources for the 2012/2013 academic year. These dates include dates for the allocation of teaching supports, SNA resources and transport applications. Key dates are the same for Special and Mainstream schools.For further information please click on 01/2012 Mainstream and 02/2012 Special
The DES have recently notified NABMSE that they have published the scheme guidelines for school transport for children with Special Educational Needs arising from a diagnosed disability. This has been updated under section 3 – Eligibility Criteria It is also important to note that the Department of Education and Skills is also putting in place deadlines [...]
After many months of negotiations between DES, Management bodies and Unions, the DES have published two circulars pertaining to the employment conditions of Special Needs Assistants(SNAs). Circular 071/2011 relates to the implementation of the Public Service(Croke Park) Agreement for SNAs. This circular also gives details on how the 12 days can be reconfigured in schools. Circular [...]
On November 11th a group of students from Stewarts School attended the inauguration of President Michael D Higgins at Dublin Castle. We had a great day-despite all the rain! We received a Garda escort into the Castle and were quickly directed to a downstairs room where we watched the proceedings on a big screen. There [...]
On 14th October 2011, 130 people from Boards of Management throughout the country attended the NABMSE Annual Conference/training day in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise. The Conference title was ‘Self Defence for Boards of Management’. This was a very lively conference with lots of audience participation. At the end of the day, attendees went home armed [...]
Parents today can download a new publication “Children with Special Educational Needs – Information Booklet for Parents” which, for the first time, gives them information on the full range of educational supports available in schools for children with special educational needs. A recent survey of parental views commissioned by the National Council for [...]
The Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, Brigid McManus, today (1.30pm) launched a special Research Report, commissioned by NABMSE, on, ‘Why are post 12 year old students with special education needs seeking to move from mainstream education to special schools? The research report was prepared by Dr. Aine Kelly, and Catherine Devitt MSocSC, [...]
The Department of Education and Skills has recently published Circular 064/2011 and the Constitution of Boards and Rules of Procedure 2011 on their website. The provisions governing the composition, appointment and functioning of Boards of Management assuming office from 1st December 2011 are now set out in this document. 10 copies of the booklet will [...]
The revised Child Protection Procedures for all schools and Circular 065/2011 were published on the Department of Education and Skills website on Friday 30th September 2011. This was the culmination of an extensive consultation process between the department, representatives of school management (including NABMSE), parents, teachers, school principals, HSE and Office of the Minister for [...]
AS a result of many queries to the office, NABMSE sought claification from the DES regarding the status of new teaching appointments in special schools. Clarification as follows: If there is a surplus permanent teacher on a redeployment panel within 45 kms of a Special School that has a vacancy, then the vacancy is filled on a [...]
NABMSE are holding their annual conference on 14th October 2011 in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise. The theme of the conference this year is ‘ Self Defence for Boards of Management’. It is an important training event for Board members and an opportunity for networking with other schools . There is an interesting line up this [...]
Over the past year, the Asthma Society of Ireland, Diabetes Federation of Ireland, Brainwave-the Irish Epilespsy Association and Anaphylaxis Ireland have come together to produce a resource pack Managing Chronic Health Conditions at School. As a management body NABMSE was consulted on the resource pack and welcomes it’s publication in time for the new school year. This [...]
The DES have published the most recent redeployement panel update on their website this morning. The situation is similar to the last update subject to exceptions: Individual schools that have been separately notified in relation to the filling of a vacancy through the redeployment of a surplus permanent teacher Schools of all patronages (across all [...]
In order to get the views of it’s members, NABMSE are holding a consultation meeting with members on the discussion paper on a Regulatory Framework for School Enrolment. This meeting takes place in Kildare Education Centre from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m on Thursday 15th September. This discussion paper was published by the Department of Education and Skills in [...]
The DES have published Circular 047/2011 setting out the conditions which govern the probationary process for primary teachers. The Main change for the 2011/2012 academic year is that the Teaching Council has determined that the minimum service requirement for registration probation purposes will be decreased for the school year 2011-12 only. This is reduced to 100 days. This [...]
The Minister for Education & Skills wishes to advise school authorities and Chief Executive Officers of VECs of some limited alleviation to the moratorium that is in place since 27 March 2009 on the filling of posts of responsibility. For further information click onto Circular 0053/2011
The DES has published the latest update on Primary Redeployment Panels on their website. For further information click on Panel Update
The DES published their latest primary redeployment panel update on Friday 19th August. The process for the filling of vacancies remains the same as last week with the following exceptions: Individual schools that have been separately notified in relation to the filling of a vacancy through the redeployment of a surplus permanent teacher; and [...]
The DES have published the most recent update on the redeployment panels in the Primary sector today 12th August. Permanent Vacancies With the exception areas within 45 km of 7 named locations, schools of all patronage can proceed to fill their permanent vacancies through open recruitment provided the vacancy has been notified to the relevant [...]
The DES published an ‘Advisory Note on the Implications for the Payment of Special Needs Assistants’ on 28th July. They have issued an amended version. Example 4 has been deleted from the original document. Schools should allocate additional hours either to existing SNAs’ or by open recruitment, if necessary, to meet the care needs of the special needs pupils [...]
The revised School Transport Scheme for pupils with Special Educational Needs has been published on the Department’s website. This scheme will be effective from the commencement of the 2011/12 school year. Please note the eligibility criteria and the inclusion of information on concessionary transport for Children who are not eligible for school transport. These pupils may apply [...]
The DES have just published the most recent update on the redeployment panels on their website. There is now 15 teachers remaining on the main redeployment panels. Since 5th August, there are a number of other dioceses that have been permitted to proceed to the filling of their permanent and fixed term vacanices in the normal manner. [...]
The DES has published the latest panel update on their website this evening. It is worth noting that there are some changes to the filling of permanent and fixed term vacancies in Ardagh & Clonmacnoise, Armagh, Cashel & Emly, Clonfert, Cloyne, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Kilmore, Limerick, Ossory, Ross and Waterford & Lismore. This is provided [...]
The DES has recently published Circulars regarding the pay scales for new entrants to the Education Sector. This is a a result of Budget 2011 where the Government has applied a 10% reduction in the pay of new entrants to the public service (referred to in this Circular as “new appointees”) and all new appointees to the [...]
latest panel update that is now being published. Publication focuses only on the redeployment of permanent teachers. Supplementary panels have started to issue from today to panel operators that have all their permanent teachers redeployed either to permanent vacancies or, where necessary, to fixed-term vacancies. The relevant panel operators are being notified. There may be [...]
The DES has issued Circular 042/2011 to advise Boards of Management and Principals regarding the staffing arrangements in special schools for the 2011/2012 The purpose of this circular is to advise special schools of the staffing arrangements which will apply for the coming 2011/12 school year and of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) [...]
The DES published an update on the redeployment panels on Friday 24th June 2011. This update includes details for the filling of permanent and fixed term vacancies. There are still restrictions on filling of vacancies but there is some alleviation on filling of fixed term vacancies for all schools. The supplementary panels (fixed term teachers between [...]
The DES issued a Press Release on the afternoon of 17th June giving details of the allocation of Special Needs Assistants for 2011/2012. To view or download, please click SNA Press Release
The Department of Education and Skills has today published a Discussion Paper on a regulatory framework for school enrolment. The overall approach taken in this paper is to consider for regulation, only those aspects of enrolment policies and practices where a common or national approach may be desirable and otherwise to provide the maximum discretion [...]
The DES has confirmed that special schools will, for the coming school year, continue to be staffed under the terms of Circular 38/2010. While, as a general rule, teaching staff levels will remain in place, any additional teaching posts required in special schools will have to be found from within the sector. The DES [...]
NABMSE held a meetingon Tuesday 24th May in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise to consult with our members on their views for the future patronage of schools in special education. This meeting was held to inform their written submission to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism due on 7th June. There was a good attendance from Chairpersons [...]
There have been a number of important circulars published by the DES recently. These are: Circular 031/2011 Teacher Recruitment - Registration and Qualifications. Circular letter 034/2011 giving details for the Standardised school year for 2011/2012,2012/2013 and 2013/2014. All schools should have received these via email from the NABMSE office on Friday 27th May. To [...]
The Department of Education and Skills have recently updated their website with information on Redeployment Panels. The present situation is that there are currently 286 surplus permanent and CID holding teachers remaining on panels the Department does not expect to be in a position until 10 June 2011 (at the earliest) to start granting authority [...]
Circular 030/2011 – arrangements for the 2011/2012 for Learning Support/Resource Teacher and Resource Teacher posts has been recently been published on the DES website. The purpose of this circular is to inform schools of the arrangements that are being put in place for the 2011/12 school year in respect of these approved resource hours so [...]
On 19th April 2011, The Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruairi Quinn TD, officially launched the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. The members of the independent Advisory Group are Professor John Coolahan (Chair), Dr. Caroline Hussey and Ms. Fionnuala Kilfeather. They will receive and assess views submitted including those of [...]
The Department of Education and Skills published the update to the redeployment panels and vacancies (by County) on their website. These lists have been circulated to panel operators. Schools are required to notify permanent and fixed term vacancies to their panel operator in accordance with Circular 019/2011. There has been a notice placed on the [...]
The HSE working with the non-statutory and voluntary organisations they fund and others in the health, education and disability sectors, have launched and established a national project ‘Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People’ which will change the way services are provided. This is based on the recommendations of the Report of the National [...]
For information the following notice has been placed on OLCS this morning – Primary schools must notify all their permanent and fixed-term vacancies for 2011/12 to their panel operator. This includes posts that are currently filled by fixed-term teachers (with no CID). Compliance with these requirements is being monitored by the Dept. The dates [...]
St Josephs Primary School for Children with Visual Impairment is hosting the MDVI Euronet Conference in June 2011. The theme of the Conference is ‘ The School for the Visually Impaired has changed – Challenges for a new generation’. This conference will be held over 2 days – 27th and 28th June and provides an [...]
The Department of Education and Skills published the update to the redeployment panels and vacancies (by County) on their website. These lists have been circulated to panel operators. Schools are required to notify permanent and fixed term vacancies to their panel operator in accordance with Circular 019/2011. The next panel update will be published on [...]
The Department of Education and Skills have today published an update on redeployment panels and on vacancies (by county) on their website today. These redeployment panel lists for surplus permanent teachers have now been circulated to panel operators. It is anticipated that these lists will increase significantly when all other surplus permanent and CID holding [...]
There has been guidance published on the CPSMA website regarding the changes to the operation of Redeployment Panels. Included in this information is guidance for Special Schools/Special Classes and low incidence resource posts. Please click on Guidance Special Schools/Classes for further details. If you require guidance for mainstream schools – please click on Mainstream Guidance. [...]
On 28th March 2011, the Minister for Education and Skills announced the establishment of a Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. Announcing the launch Minister Quinn said ‘ it will take a multi dimensional approach involving consultations with the key education stakeholders, including parents.’ The Minister also announced that he has appointed [...]
NABMSE are gathering information on the numbers and status of teachers affected in Special Schools and sent a short survey by email to all Special Schools last week. If you have not received a survey or have not replied, please contact the NABSME Office at 045 533753 as soon as possible. Thanks to the 70 schools who [...]
The Minister for Education and Skills wishes to inform Management Authorities that the minimum educational requirement for the appointment of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to primary and post-primary schools as contained in previous communications is amended.
The new programme for Government was published on Monday 7th March 2011. This sets out the plans of the new Government for their term of office. You can download the full programme here. If you want to download the education section of the programme, please log on to Education Programme. Please note section on Delivering [...]
On Friday 4th March, the Department of Education and Skills published Circular 019/2011 to inform all primary schools of the following: The arrangements for filling teaching posts for the 2011/2012 school year The commencement of redeployment and panel arrangements for teachers at primary level The staffing schedule for primary schools for the 2011/2010 school year [...]
On Friday 18th February, the NCSE published guidelines for the application of Resources for Pupils with Special Education Needs for 2011/2012. The relevant dates are as follows: Special Schools School Leavers form to be submitted to the SENO by 18th March Schools to submit applications with Professional reports by 18th March. Mainstream Schools( Primary and [...]
The Des have opened public consultaion on the value for money review of small schools. Closing date for recipt of submissions is 18th March 2011
Part of the Public Service(Croke Park) Agreement Action Plan is related to the Education Sector. This action plan includes action plans for Teachers, SNAs, VECs (other than Teachers and SNAs) Institutes of Technology,Universities and other Higher Education Institutes. For further infromation, please log on to Croke Park Agreement – Education Sector Plan
The DES has published guidance for schools in making up time for unforeseen closures
NABMSE are members of the working group on Circular 0038/2010: Staffing Arrangements in Special Schools and wish to consult members on issues going forward.
The DES issued a Circular to all schools on Friday 14th January on the cap on SNA posts.
21st January is the closing date for the 2011 Summer Works Scheme
New Garda vetting procedures for teaching and non teaching staff in schools come into effect on January 1st 2011
Following a briefing meeting with the DES and Management bodies, the DES issued Circular 070/2010 and a FAQ document for the attention of Boards of Management on 26th November 2010. This relates to all staff paid directly by a recognised school that have not been affected by the 5% pay deduction in 2010. The pay [...]
On 25th November, the DES published Circular 067/2010 on procedures for filling teaching vacancies for the remainder of the school year. The procedures at primary level mean that any permanent teaching vacancies with the School Principal and Deputy Principal Posts, that arise between 1st December 2010 and the end of the school year will only [...]
On 24th November 2010, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Ms. Mary Coughlan T.D. outlined the expenditure measures for her Department contained in the National Recovery Plan. She stated that the ‘Government had gone as far as it could to protect front line education services over the four years of the plan. She [...]
NABSME holds a very successful conference in Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise.
