The annual cost of providing substitute cover for absent teachers has reached €280m a year, writes Stephen O’Brien. The full figure is almost double the €150m estimate used by government and opposition figures in the debate over education cuts.

Batt O’Keeffe, the education minister, is banning substitute cover for teachers taking uncertified sick leave or leaving the classroom on official school business from January. He told the Dail last week that the cost of substitution cover would reach almost €190m this year — €84.4m in primary schools, €66.9 million in secondary schools and €38m in vocationals.

These costs are incurred under the “supervision-and-substitution scheme”, a voluntary arrangement whereby teachers are paid €1,789 in return for 37 hours a year supervising children in school yards during break times and covering the classes of absent colleagues.

But a further €56m is paid in the primary sector and €35m in the secondary sector to teachers outside the permanent school staff who cover for absentees. This will bring the total cost this year to €280.3m.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation says the increased payments can be attributed to increased maternity-leave entitlements. Paid maternity leave has increased from 18 weeks in 2003, when the supervision-and-substitution scheme was agreed with teachers, to 26 weeks in December 2006.

More than one-third of all substitute cover is provided for teachers on maternity leave. About 80% of staff in primary schools and 60% of those in secondaries are female. About one-fifth of cover is provided for teachers on other long-term leave, mainly unpaid leave of absence. Government sources say there is a concern that abuses are also contributing to the increase in substitution costs.

In the primary sector, the bill has risen from €26.3m in 2003 to €40m in 2004, €60m in 2006 and a projected €84.4m this year.

In the secondary sector, costs are rising from €52m in 2006 to a projected €67m this year. ASTI, the secondary teachers’ union, argues that far more field work has been introduced to the curriculum. Cover for teachers out on official school business accounts for 7% of the costs.

Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael education spokesman, accep-ted the costs of substitution had grown “radically” and there is a need to achieve value for money. He said the government should give each school a grant to cover substitution.

He warned that the ban on uncertified sick leave could backfire and lead to longer absences by teachers who would stay out for the three or five days covered by a doctor’s certificate instead of returning to work after one or two days.

The Department of Education estimates that some ¤30m of the ¤110m it wants to save can be achieved on substitution. A spokesman for O’Keeffe said the alternative to increasing the pupil-teacher ratio and refusing to pay for uncertified sick leave is redundancies or a pay freeze.

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