Four Protestant schools in Dublin have begun legal proceedings against the Department of Education in an increasingly bitter dispute about the redeployment of teachers in second-level schools. Seán Flynn, Education Editor, on the issues at stake

What schools are involved in this dispute?

Four schools are taking legal action against the Department of Education. They include some of the best known schools in the State - St Andrew's, Booterstown and Wesley College, Ballinteer. The others are the Rathdown School, Glenageary, and St Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School in the city centre.

Tell me about this new deal on redeployment and why these schools are objecting

Under a new deal worked out as part of the last pay deal (Towards 2016) all schools are obliged to accept teachers from schools facing closure. Last year, four schools closed in Dublin. These were Roddy Doyle's alma mater, Greendale Community School in Kilbarrack in north Dublin, Presentation College Glasthule, St John of God's in Artane and Holy Faith, Haddington Road.

With falling local numbers and the general drift towards fee-paying schools and grind schools, these schools had no option but to close last summer. Many of their teachers opted to take up an early retirement scheme but, in order to protect their livelihood, a total of 30 teachers from these schools were placed on a redeployment panel.

So far so good. Tell me about this redeployment scheme. Do schools have to accept these teachers whether they like it or not?

Broadly yes - but it is a little more complex that. Let me explain.

Under the last pay deal, teachers were awarded pay increases in return for new efficiency measures. As part of this process, the Department pressed for a new deal on redeployment. Schools found it much too easy, they said, to frustrate the old deal by saying that the available teacher did not meet their exact needs. The Department wanted something much more robust. Eventually a deal was worked between the Department, teacher unions and school managers last May on what was called a "Redeployment Scheme for Surplus Teachers as a Consequence of School Closures".

Here's how it worked. Our 30 teachers from the schools facing closure were placed on a redeployment panel. After that, it was intended to be a simple exercise in supply and demand. All schools would be obliged to notify the Department of forthcoming vacancies and the Department, working off the redeployment panel, would seek to find the most suitable candidate.

A former Department of Education inspector, Tarlach O'Connor, was appointed as redeployment director to oversee the whole process.

For the first time, the new deal allowed transfers between all kinds of schools - Catholic, Protestant, vocational, community and comprehensive. It marked the end of an era where, for example, teachers in Catholic schools could only be re-assigned to another Catholic school.

All very inclusive. So, when did the problems begin?

The current dispute was triggered when the four Protestant schools refused to notify the Department of forthcoming vacancies. Some background is necessary here.

Traditionally, fee-paying schools tend to recruit and pay their teachers privately. "Mr Murphy" or "Ms Smith" is paid directly by the school for an interim period. If all goes well, he/she can usually expect to secure the full-time incremental post - paid for by the State - when a vacancy arises.

The new redeployment deal heralded the end of this arrangement. Instead, the Protestant schools are now forced to accept suitably-qualified teachers from schools that have closed in their region - without any interview procedure.

The Protestant schools say the new redeployment deal "interferes with a board of management's role as an employer to have a reasonable expectation to interview and provide a written contract to employees".

They also maintain the new deal runs counter to the spirit of the Education Act, which acknowledges the right of all schools to protect their own special ethos.

So how has the Department responded?

The Department was furious when the schools opted out of the deal. In return, it is refusing to fill any teaching vacancies in these schools which could be accommodated under the redeployment panel. The schools, in turn, have begun legal action against the Department.

Hold on a second. Didn't the schools sign up to the redeployment deal as part of the national pay agreement?

The Protestant schools say they "were not consulted nor were they party to the redeployment scheme imposed by the Department".

The Department refutes this. It says the deal was worked out at the Teachers Conciliation Council, the forum where the Department, teachers unions and school management thrash out industrial relations issues. The Department says the Protestant schools were represented at this meeting by the Joint Managerial Board (JMB), the group which negotiates on behalf of both Catholic and Protestant schools in the second-level sector. But the Protestant schools say the Irish Schoolheads Association (ISA) always opposed the redeployment deal. The ISA represents the Protestant schools but it does not have the power to negotiate on their behalf.

Is this really all about Protestant teachers for Protestant schools. Is there some sort of elitism at work?

That is certainly the view in some Catholic schools. One teacher says: "The Protestant schools are behaving as though teachers from the redeployment panel are somehow not good enough for them."

Some in the Catholic sector say they share the concern about being forced to accept staff without an interview. But one said: "We took the pragmatic view and just got on with it. Otherwise, those teachers on the panel could have been out of work."

The Protestant schools reject any charge of elitism. At issue, they say, is the right of Protestant schools to select staff who are "genuinely committed to their ethos".

One senior figure says: "The Protestant schools have a very distinct ethos. The boarding schools, for example, can expect teachers to do boarding duty and they expect teachers to get fully involved in extra-curricular activities. It is not the place for a teacher who leaves school at 4pm each evening.

"This is not about the religious background of teachers; there are many Catholic teachers in these Protestant schools. It is about their willingness to fully subscribe to the special ethos of these schools."

So is the new deal on redeployment unfair to Protestant schools?

The schools themselves certainly think so - that is why they have begun the legal action.

But the Department says it will contest any legal action vigorously. It is expected the Department will point to several "safeguards" to protect the ethos of schools in the redeployment deal. These include:

The requirement that the redeployment can only proceed after the redeployment director is satisfied that the reassigned teacher will fully respect the ethos of the school

The aspiration that no more than one teacher will be reassigned to any one school

A process where both the school and the reassigned teacher can appeal - if the redeployment is not working.

The Protestant schools say none of this changes their view - the scheme interferes with a board of management's role as an employer and has the potential to undermine their ethos.

With both sides digging in, is there room for compromise?

The Protestant schools are in combative mode, they have ben hugely encouraged by the huge volume of support received from parents and others since the controversy surfaced publicly last week. Said one figure: "This is about our fundamental rights and we will not compromise."

For the Department the stakes are also very high. This is not just about the right of four Protestant schools. From the Department's perspective, it is also about the right of one group to exclude themselves from the agreed provisions of a national pay deal. Their concern is that the whole national pay deal could begin to unravel if a special deal is done for one group.

Could the situation deteriorate if there are more school closures?

No school closure are projected for the current school year, although more are expected in 2009. The Department is more concerned with surplus capacity within the second-level system because of falling numbers, than school closures.

The new redeployment deal is the kind of "cross -sectoral" system - covering Catholic, Protestant, community and comprehensive schools - that it would like to introduce. Teachers who are surplus to requirement in one school could easily be moved to another - and help save the Exchequer money in the process.

But first the Department has to sort out those awkward Protestant schools . . .