The formula is simple: real change
February 14, 2012
Entrenched vested interests are hijacking the Irish education system. Those who care about the future need to take it back
Its time to end the monopoly of educationalists determining the future of Irish education. Vested interests of religious structures, the Department of Education, third-level institutions and teacher unions have acted in pursuit of their own narrow goals. The results? Unsustainable costs, the shortest school year, the highest-paid teachers, growing illiteracy, declining academic standards and increasing reliance on migrant workers to fill jobs in technical sectors. Education policy debate is a game for insiders only.
The inevitable outcome is self-serving agendas that fail to meet current economic needs.
We might have hoped that the Minister Ruairí Quinn would be different. He was previously Labour’s opposition education spokesperson. He’s probably on his last ministerial gig, having been in finance and party leader.
His government has the largest parliamentary majority in the history of the state, with reasonable prospects of a five-year term to pioneer reform. Yet last week, he told a student audience in the University of Limerick that it was up to them to deal with poor performing and absentee tutors and lecturers. What an abject failure to tackle dud teachers. Instead of providing accountability he presides over a free pardon.
The pussycat politics of acquiescence seem set to continue. Rarefied university presidents think they deserve to be paid more than the Taoiseach – over €200,000 per annum. Gross unapproved over-expenditure goes unpunished. The Hunt report charted a future course for higher education. It opposed dilution of Irish university status by granting any increase on the current strength of seven.
This is already above international norms based on population. The Government blithely ignores this by promising a new technological university in the southeast to placate ministers such as Howlin (Wexford) and Hogan (Kilkenny). Meanwhile, no Irish university is in the world’s top 100.
Hard questions need to be addressed to our universities and institutes. Contracts for lecturers must be renegotiated. Annual tutoring hours of 560 per year or six hours per week is unacceptable. Research commitments are elusive and unfocused. Poor productivity and asset utilisation were identified in the Bord Snip Nua report, along with abolition of the National Universities of Ireland body. These recommendations gather dust while elitist personnel fail to provide value for money. Graduates receive little follow-up support for employment placement or enhancement.
But the greatest indictment of our education system is not that half of employees for the ICT sector have to be recruited abroad and brought here for Google, Yahoo and Facebook. No, it’s the decline in basic educational attainments.
OECD surveys of 15-year-olds in essential subjects of reading, maths and science since 2000, reflect poorly on our educational output. We declined from 5th to 17th in reading skills and from 16th to 26th in maths. Adult illiteracy is trending towards 20 per cent.
Finland tops these PISA surveys. Its education budget is 6 per cent of GDP. The average class size is 25 pupils. Their school year is an average of 190 days. Here it is 167 and 183 respectively between secondary and primary levels. Finnish teachers are not paid as much as their Irish counterparts. What are the differences? School entry age is seven years, with a pre-school year at six. All teachers must have graduate qualifications to be recruited. Teacher accountability is devolved to local school management.
Poor performance is not tolerated.
Successive ministers for education tend to be ministers for teachers. Upsetting teachers is off limits. Teachers may be fired if they’re found to be drunk in the classroom or fail to carry out the daily roll call. It’s okay that up to 50 per cent of secondary maths teachers are not properly qualified.
There is no insistence on changing this or a timetable for retraining to reach minimum standards. Contracted hours at 1,037 per annum for primary school teachers and 735 hours per annum of secondary level are not up for review. In the Netherlands and Britain, respective comparisons are 1,659 and 1,265 hours per year. The Croke Park
Agreement preserves higher pay. Absenteeism is accepted under the supervision and substitution schemes, costing €36 million annually.
Reform under Croke Park is extremely modest. An extra hour here and there represents tokenism. Some schools still don’t do parent teacher-meetings at times to suit parents. Sick-leave arrangements facilitate up to 21 days absence without medical certification. As close to 80 per cent of the education budget is comprised of teacher salaries and pensions, cost reduction depends on productivity adjustments.
It’s a people business, fair enough. At primary level, we could reduce school enrolments from 60,000 to 20,000 by increasing the school entry age to a minimum of five years. At secondary level, abolition of the transition year would remove one-sixth of the cost of the teaching budget. Both measures together would mean school leaving age would be unchanged. Radical thoughts are absent in Marlborough Street.
It’s important to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of the vast majority of teachers and academics. Their commitment is undermined by a lack of uniformity throughout the service. We need to reward good teachers. Payment of increments to teachers is automatic, irrespective of performance. Incentives and rewards in the pay structure is anathema to unions.
Good schools, irrespective of whether they are private or public, should be highlighted. Comparative tables providing fair analysis should be freely available to parents who seek choice. The points system, for all its shortcomings, can focus on poor results that can be traced to underperforming teachers. The private grinds industry is testament to this reality. Who cares? Not the professional politicians. Cursory reading of Dáil education debates reveals the extent of former teachers who are TDs.
Irish society is changing rapidly. It is becoming more cosmopolitan and secular. It is also growing. Demographics indicate an increase in the school population of 20 per cent in the decade ahead. The challenge of extra demands and less resources won’t be met with “policy as usual” prescriptions. At primary level, this means consolidation of smaller rural schools. In every other walk of life, rationalisation has occurred.Half parishes cannot sustain individual schools. Improved facilities and greater subject choice are results of mergers. It’s already occurred at post-primary level, with obvious benefits.
The vexed question of consequences from declining adherence to organised religion must also be tackled. This not only means relinquishing of chairmanship and control of local school boards of management, but also alterations to the curriculum. Teaching two-and-a-half hours per week of religious studies could be done by visiting chaplains/ clergy at the end of the school day. Other vital subjects could replace it during the normal timetable. Preparation for first Communion and Confirmation, while on school property, should be conducted outside of the teaching day.
Resistance to change equals postponement of the inevitable. Church leaders such as Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin deserves support for modernisation moves.
Whilst slaying sacred cows, we must confront cultural insecurity.
Despite the critical competitive advantage of having a natural English-speaking workforce, we persist with compulsory Irish language teaching and exams. A diminishing 3 per cent of the population converse in our official tongue. Declining relevance of Irish is swept under the carpet. If both Irish and religious studies were replaced by computer studies/information technology learning, we could greatly enhance economic performance. Heresy? Let’s embrace a future of options rather than obligations.
In summary, educationalists and their specialist cheerleaders in the media believe they alone must chart the future course of Irish education. Most businesses can’t operate in such a bubble. They have to perpetually adapt to their consumers’ needs. Parents, taxpayers, jobseekers and employers observe a system that is living off its past reputation.
Tardiness in reforming the curriculum to meet job requirements is self-evident. We produce excess arts graduates and insufficient trained young adults. We preserve inefficiency and protect bad teachers. Educational systems of emerging markets of South Korea and Singapore are kicking our ass. Endless introspective chants for more money will have to be met by borrowings from creditors of last resort. Special pleading is a dialogue of the deaf, where the troika is concerned. We must integrate the needs of the economy into Irish education, because the converse is unsustainable.
Ten changes needed in Irish education
1 INCREASE SCHOOL ENTRY AGE TO FIVE AND ABOLISH TRANSITION YEAR
2 REVIEW TEACHER CONTRACTS TO INCREASE HOURS AND REMOVE INCENTIVES TO ABSENTEEISM
3 INCENTIVISE GOOD TEACHING WITH FINANCIAL REWARD
4 INTRODUCE COMPARATIVE SCHOOL LEAGUE TABLES
5 CONSOLIDATE SMALL RURAL SCHOOLS
6 MOVE RELIGIOUS TEACHING OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS AND OUT OF THE TEACHERS’ JOB DESCRIPTION
7 ABOLISH COMPULSORY IRISH LANGUAGE LEARNING AND REPLACE WITH COMPUTER STUDIES
8 RENEGOTIATE CONTRACTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION TO INCREASE LECTURERS HOURS AND DEFINE THEIR RESEARCH COMMITMENTS.
9 ELIMINATE OVER-EXPENDITURE IN OUR UNIVERSITIES AND INSTITUTES OF TECHNOLOGY AND REDUCE THE SALARIES OF OUR UNIVERSITY HEADS
10 REDUCE THE NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES AND ABOLISH THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND
Ivan Yates, former cabinet minister, co-presents Breakfast on Newstalk
IRISH TIMES
Co-operation and the Irish language
February 14, 2012
Sir,
Your newspaper contains an article concerning a proposal by Foras na Gaeilge for a new funding model based on schemes rather than organisations (Home News, February 9th).
Some of the assertions by the chief executive of Foras na Gaeilge cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
Services required by Irish speakers are as diverse as those of the general population. It is, therefore, not excessive that 19 organisations serve those needs on an all-island basis.
Furthermore, there is no basis for the assertion that there is duplication of provision.
As to the assertion that organisations “flatly refused” to co-operate, a report commissioned by Foras na Gaeilge from Mazars identified that collaboration did already exist but that it could be improved. While organisations reviewed do collaborate with other organisations it would appear that this is largely done from a bottom-up perspective, ie each individual organisation collaborates with others to the level of breadth and depth that it as an organisation or they as a group see fit.
A request by Foras na Gaeilge, in 2008, that organisations establish committees to effect greater co-operation between them was well-intentioned but doomed to failure in the absence of an overarching plan or any external facilitation.
I believe that the interest of the current public consultation process would be best served if meaningful engagement were to occur between Foras na Gaeilge and the sector, as requested by the North-South Ministerial Council. – Yours, etc,
ANTOINE Ó COILEÁIN,
Príomhfheidhmeannach,
Gael Linn,
Dame Street,
Dublin 2.
IRISH TIMES
Bonus points for Irish
February 10, 2012
Sir, –
I agree with your correspondent that there is something “bogus” about bonus points for those that do Leaving Cert subjects through Irish (To Be Honest, Education Today, February 7th).
However, what is bogus is not that these points are granted. It is why they are granted.
Your correspondent acknowledges that completing an exam such as history in Irish is challenging. It is.
My children still have to use textbooks in English for many subjects. And much auxiliary information — library books, newspaper articles, and so on – is also only available in English.
Rather than systematically addressing the lack of schoolbooks in Irish, the Department of Education avoids its responsibility towards Irish-language education by offering these bonus points. – Yours, etc,
AONGHUS Ó hALMHAIN,
Páirc na Seilbhe,
Baile an Chinnéidigh,
Co Chill Mhantáin.
A chara, –
In school I learnt about oidhreachtúil aonfhachtóireach and single-factor inheritance, about the interauricular septum and an fochra idirchluaisíneach, and about liontán ionphlasmach and endoplasmic reticulum.
Anybody who thinks bonus points for sitting Leaving Cert subjects as Gaeilge are “bogus”, might try studying Bitheolaíocht with a textbook as Béarla.
– Is mise,
AINDRIÚ Ó FAOLÁIN,
Bóthar Simmonscourt,
Baile Átha Cliath 4.
IRISH TIMES LETTERS
Bonus points for Irish? That’s bogus
February 8, 2012
A parent writes: Leaving Cert students who do their exams through Irish get grade boosts that add up to extra CAO points. This has been the case for so long it has been overlooked as a very serious inequality in our system.
The Leaving Cert is supposed to be a “level playing field”. That’s the phrase that supporters of this exam love to use.
Bonus points for Irish queer the pitch.
Take two students, equally able, going for the same course in university. The student from the Irish language school has a better chance of getting that course, even if Irish is not required to study it. It doesn’t make academic sense at all.
If, for example, a student gets 65 per cent in history, he will be awarded an extra 10 per cent of that mark because he did the exam in Irish. That will push him from a C to a B grade. Any student who gets a mark of 75 per cent or less in a range of subjects gets this 10 per cent boost.
I accept that completing an exam such as history through the Irish language is challenging, but not for a child that has had the benefit of 14 years of Irish language education. This option is just not available to the majority of students in the country. In my own locality there is one gaelscoil (Irish language primary school) and it is oversubscribed. The nearest gaelcholáiste (Irish language post-primary school) is miles away.
I absolutely support the right of parents to choose an all-Irish education for their children. I also realise that the bonus system is designed to encourage more parents to choose Irish language schooling. As we have seen, however, demand exceeds supply so the interest is being stoked by the bonus points system without a corresponding increase in provision.
Meanwhile, awarding bonus points for Irish continues to discriminate against those outside this limited Irish language school system. When a large pool of students are going for a small number of high point courses in university, is it really fair that those whose parents had access to a gaelscoil and gaelcholáiste should find themselves at such an advantage?
Bonus points for maths are open to all with the ability – there’s scarcely a school in the country that doesn’t offer higher level maths. However, a minority of students have a realistic chance of completing the Leaving Cert through Irish, regardless of ability.
Supporters of the Leaving Cert always say that, blunt as it may be, at least it’s fair. This is not fair.
The Irish Times
Rialtas faoi ionsaí as ‘droch-chinneadh’ eile teanga a dhéanamh
February 8, 2012
‘Deireadh’ le caint
February 1, 2012
Too many activities after school erode overall benefit
January 27, 2012
PUSHY PARENTS who overload their children with after-school activities may not be helping them as much as they believe, according to the latest findings from the Growing Up in Ireland study.
The national longitudinal study found that children who did cultural activities such as music, drama and dance, and read for pleasure were likely to score well on reading and maths tests. However, being involved in too many activities cancelled out some of the educational benefits.
At the other end of the spectrum, children who spent most of their spare time in unstructured activities such as watching television fared worst in the tests.
Growing Up in Ireland – Influences on 9-Year-Olds’ Learning: Home, School and Community involved interviews with 8,568 nine-year-old children, as well as interviews with their parents, teachers and principals, in 2007/2008.
The researchers found that children divided into five groups. The cultural activities group accounted for 25 per cent of children and included those who did after-school activities such as music, drama and dance, and read for pleasure.
The sports and computer games group accounted for 20 per cent of those surveyed, while the social networkers group (18 per cent) identified children who used computers a lot.
The busy lives group (15 per cent) included children who did a very wide range of after-school activities. The final group, the television and sports group (23 per cent) identified children who spent spare time watching television and doing things that were not structured. They seldom used computers.
Not surprisingly, it found that boys were more likely to fall into the sports and computer games group while girls were more likely to be in the cultural activities group.
Children from privileged backgrounds tended to be involved in social networking and cultural activities and were also more likely to fall into the “busy lives” group.
Those who took part in cultural activities and social networking had higher levels of reading and maths performance than other groups. But, taking account of social background, there was no difference between the performance of the “busy lives” group and the group of children who spent most of their time watching television and playing sports.
The “hurried child” phenomenon was highlighted by Dr Emer Smyth who co-authored the report with Dr Selina McCoy and Amanda Quail. Dr Smyth said these busy children were spread very thinly across so many areas in their spare time that they were not feeling the academic benefit. Literacy, in particular, was being squeezed out, and also maths to a lesser extent.
She also highlighted the fact that Gaelscoileanna students were more likely to be involved in cultural activities and less likely to spend their spare time watching television.
She said schools in Gaeltacht areas did not have the same profile, which seemed to suggest that it was not connected with the Irish language culture.
The study also found that children from immigrant families were more likely to fall into the social networker category while children with learning disabilities were most likely to fit into the television and sports group.
Urban children were more likely to be social networkers than rural children, while children in one-parent families tended to fall into the television and sports group.
The children interviewed for this study are now 13 years old, and are taking part in follow-up interviews as part of the national study.
IRISH TIMES
Some small rural schools are being put in immediate jeopardy by staffing cuts
January 26, 2012
AS A Fine Gael Senator and former education spokeswoman, I have a request for Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.
I am respectfully asking him to review his position on small rural schools.
From a total of 1,000 small schools the Minister in 2012/13 is seeking to find 100 teaching posts by increasing teacher retention numbers based on last September’s enrolment. This puts some small rural schools in immediate jeopardy.
I formerly worked as a primary teacher in a four-teacher rural school, and latterly as a lecturer in teacher education, and have just visited seven small rural Gaeltacht schools in Connemara.
At the early stage in my career I taught for nine years in Newcastle NS, near Athenry, a homely school embedded in the community. Like the schools I visited in Connemara, it was the centre of the rural community, and through its connectedness with that I came to know parents, to understand their way of life, and to really know the children. I was a better teacher for it. It was there I formed many of the philosophies that informed my understanding of how children learn best and to shape my later practice in teacher education.
Because the numbers fell in that primary school, as the last teacher in, I was subsequently redeployed to a large school in an urban area. This left the rural school with only three teachers to cope with almost the same number of children. Not easy given the complexity of the mix of classes, ages and ability levels.
This is the scenario now faced by An Tuairín NS in Béal an Daingin (Connemara) next September. Only in this case it is a sudden adjustment and without adequate notice.
According to September 2011 figures it needed 76 pupils to retain its four class teachers. With 78 on the roll all was fine until new retention numbers were announced in the budget which now require it to have had 81 pupils on that date.
Now An Tuairín’s pupil teacher ratio (PTR) will be above the national average (around 80 pupils for three teachers). To make matters worse, what will make Tuairín NS a complex teaching situation is the number of class levels, ability levels, and some split classes that will exist in its three classrooms. Classrooms that are now too small for the new reality.
Lest one think otherwise, I am a fan of multi-class settings for better pupil outcomes. Evidence shows that younger pupils learn from older peers, and older pupils gain cognitively by going into “teacher mode” with their younger peers. But there comes a tipping point when the class mix is just too close to be advantageous to the children. Tuairín NS is at this point.
Similarly, a situation envisaged by 2014 whereby a one-teacher school would have 19 pupils across eight classes, spanning four-to-12-year-olds, is mind- boggling.
In any single class, children’s abilities fall into high, middle and low categories. You can have a further two levels of special needs at either end of the spectrum – developmentally slow and gifted. What makes the multi-class situation complex in the small rural school is these ability levels exist in multiples, depending on the number of classes in the room, and are exacerbated further with the loss of a teacher.
Add in social disadvantage in a rural community where in some Connemara schools I visited up to 80 per cent of parents are unemployed – thus the classification “Rural Deis”.
Be assured this scenario is as educationally challenging, if not more, than any Urban Deis school. Yet, why have only the urban Deis schools earned a review from the Minister?
Rural Deis small schools are equally deserving of a review.
There are other changes coming too in relation to learning support and resource teaching hours that will undermine good local practice.Three schools I visited in
Lettermore, Leitir Caladh and Tír an Fhia share the same learning support and resource teacher.
Parents and schools with children with autism and cerebral palsy, among other learning difficulties, reported very high levels of satisfaction with her work. Under new arrangements this will become the work of two teachers and is actually likely to cost the State more.
I have said little about the effect of the loss of a teacher and the gradual erosion of a school on a small rural community. Education aside, this is arguably the biggest effect of all. In my experience, the loss of a teacher is felt far more deeply in a rural community than in an urban community.
Minister, I am asking you to rethink your position on small rural schools. There are other ways to find savings. For example, an increase to the PTR of 0.6 across all schools would give you more posts than needed by 2014. When we are well off again as a nation in 10 or 15 years, let’s not regret that we have a rural Ireland without young people. Let that choice be theirs.
In communities where amalgamation may be preferable, let us ask communities to come up with a local solution over a four-year period, This will give them time to plan their futures.
Fidelma Healy Eames is a Fine Gael Senator
IRISH TIMES
Gaeltacht parents oppose teacher ratio changes in smaller primary schools
January 23, 2012
PARENTS OF children in small Gaeltacht schools have called on the Minister for Education to outline how he believes imposing new pupil-teacher ratios in small primary schools will save money in the long term.
“Ruairí Quinn, éist linn!” chanted more than 200 parents and their children at a demonstration in Galway at the weekend.
The parents from nine Gaeltacht schools in south Connemara expressed vehement opposition to a change which they describe as “discriminating against rural communities, non-Catholic school populations and Irish speakers”.
Irish National Teachers’ Organisation members attending a consultative conference in Galway also described the move as a “blunt instrument”. The organisation’s general secretary Sheila Nunan described the budgetary measures as “flawed and lacking in planning” and called for a “coherent, long-term and resourced strategy for sustainable schools that met children’s needs irrespective of location”.
Such a strategy should “respect linguistic diversity and plurality of patronage”, Ms Nunan told more than 300 members at the meeting, which was called to discuss the impact of new primary education cuts.
The change to pupil-teacher ratios for those primary schools with four or fewer teachers was announced as a form of “phased increase” in pupil threshold in the December budget. Larger primary schools will not be affected.
Opposition has been expressed at a series of meetings around the State, with 500 people attending a meeting on the issue in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, on Friday.
Protests have also been held in areas including An Tuairín, Co Galway, one of the first Connemara Gaeltacht schools to be affected; Dunmanway, Co Cork, last week, and near Castlemaine, Co Kerry, before Christmas.
At the Galway demonstration, which was held in “solidarity with INTO members”, Connemara Gaeltacht parents said Mr Quinn was “forcing closure by stealth” by eroding confidence in the viability of schools with four teachers and under.
“It is time that this Government stopped blaming the previous government, as it is not acceptable that our children should have to suffer in these circumstances,” said Dara Bailey, who has one child at Leitir Móir and three at Leitir Calaidh primary schools. Fellow Leitir Calaidh parents Maria Nic Dhonncha, Mairín Ní Fhatharta and Margaret O’Sullivan said they were “very disappointed” at remarks by Minister of State for Education Ciarán Cannon in Ballinasloe on Friday night in which he proposed “clustering” junior and senior cycle primary classes from several schools under one board of management.
“Mr Cannon doesn’t seem to understand that if we lose our school, we lose our community, our identity is gone and it will affect the Irish language,” the parents said. “If Mr Cannon reflects the general attitude of Government, then as a society we are in serious trouble.”
Mr Cannon told The Irish Times yesterday that no one was “forcing amalgamation”, but such clustering could take place within a community or parish setting. “At least let us look at all the options,” he said.
Parents Ann Joyce, Delia Griffin, Mary Uí Fhatharta, Ellie Joyce and Teresa McDonagh of Tír an Fhia school said some schools might end up with one teacher for eight classes, which raised health and safety and EU work-time directive issues.
They called on Mr Quinn to “talk to the primary school principals” who might be able to propose viable cost-saving measures which would have a less detrimental effect on children and communities. Mr Cannon said the Minister would talk to principals at their forthcoming conference.
Last week the principal of Ahascragh school in north Galway, Liz Mulry, said there were less damaging measures Mr Quinn could take to save funds, such as tackling the price of building contracts for extra classrooms.
“If this new pupil-teacher ratio was being implemented in schools in Ballsbridge or Drumcondra, the Government would not get away with it,” she said.
CONCERNS FOR SCHOOL: LOCAL RESIDENTS FEAR DEATH OF COMMUNITY
FACED WITH the closure of the school that defines their community, local residents in the Gaeltacht community of Leitir Calaidh in Galway are blaming a Dublin Government that they say does not understand them.
In last month’s budget, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn set about increasing the number of pupils a school would need to retain a teacher.
Currently, a school with 12 students is entitled to a second teacher, however in 2014 this number will rise to 20.
For Scoil Naisiúnta Bhríde in Leitir Calaidh, which has 19 children enrolled and 19 projected to be enrolled in 2014, this means becoming a one-teacher school, which parents and teachers alike say would be its death.
“It won’t work,” said school principal Cathy Mhic Gearailt. “I’d expect that parents wouldn’t send their child to a one-teacher school and I’d say it would be closure here.
“In this day and age the curriculum is so wide. There are 11 subjects per class and a lot of the work is hands on and involves group work.”
She added that when a nearby school in Cnoc was reduced to just one teacher, it quickly failed, causing more social destruction than simply the loss of a school.
“The change in their area since the school closed, even parents chit-chatting at the gate and the kids to all play together and to know each other and now there is no sense of community there.”
Leitir Calaidh is a small townland just north of Leitir Mór in the south Connemara Gaeltacht. While it has close ties with its neighbouring areas, its residents cherish their own unique identity.
The death of that community is what the parents fear most, as Anne Marie Hernon, whose son is in third class in Scoil Bhríde, said.
“It would take away our identity because we are such separate areas and this school is the one thing that identifies ourselves.”
Visiting the school last week, Fine Gael Senator and party spokeswoman on education in the previous Seanad, Fidelma Healy Eames said Mr Quinn’s policy on retention numbers was mistaken and he had shown “a lack of understanding of the complexity of rural schools”.
She added that while his cost- saving objective may have been well intentioned, it would have been fairer if he had simply increased the pupil-teacher ratio across the board by 0.6.
IRISH TIMES
Protests at new teacher ratios
January 23, 2012
PARENTS CONCERNED about new pupil-teacher ratios affecting the viability of small schools are voicing their concerns in Galway today.
Families in Clare, Offaly and Westmeath have been invited to joint counterparts from across the west who are opposed to the ratio changes implemented by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.
They will demonstrate their support for the Irish National Teachers Organisation’s (INTO) stance on the issue at a union consultative conference in a Galway hotel this morning.
Liz Mulry, principal of a three-teacher school in Ahascragh, Co Galway, said it was one of a series of actions, which included a public meeting in Ballinasloe last night.
Parents participated in a protest on the issue yesterday at Scoil Mhuire, a Gaeltacht primary school in An Tuairín, south Connemara, while up to 500 people attended a meeting on the issue earlier this week in Dunmanway, Co Cork.
Ms Mulry says the pupil-teacher ratio changes initiated in the budget for one, two, three and four-teacher schools threaten the viability of rural and non-Catholic schools as both tend to be smaller.
“If this ratio was being implemented in schools in Ballsbridge or Drumcondra, the Government would not get away with it,” Ms Mulry said.
“Under the new, revised figures announced by the Minister we are set to lose a teacher the year after next even though we had more than enough pupils for three teachers on last September’s figures.”
Ms Mulry added: “Everyone knows we have to make cuts, but I would appeal to Mr Quinn to ask the principals for suggestions as to how to do same without affecting pupils.”
IRISH TIMES
