Government withdraws one of few supports left for Irish Medium Schools [into.ie]
- Published: 09 December 2010
The INTO described the proposal in the National Recovery Plan to remove teaching posts from Irish medium schools as a blatant attack on the Irish language. According to the INTO, provisional figures show that over thirty jobs will go from a small number of gaelscoileanna with some schools losing two teachers.
The union said the proposal would increase class sizes greatly in many of these schools.
A spokesperson said the direct impact of the proposal would be to increase class sizes drastically in many schools. “All the research shows that class size matters when children are very young. This decision will increase class sizes for young children.”
Traditionally smaller gaelscoileanna have a more favourable staffing schedule than other schools. The INTO said this could easily be justified on a number of grounds. “Pupils in Irish language schools learn through the medium of Irish, even though for the majority of them, Irish is not the language of their home. There is also a lack of resources to support Irish language education. In addition, almost all of the affected schools are in substandard school buildings which the ESRI concluded affects curriculum implementation. Others are also in disadvantaged areas with DEIS status, which further overburdens their capacity to effectively implement the curriculum.”
The INTO said the decision would pose significant employment difficulties for the teachers concerned. Although the teachers are covered by the Croke Park Agreement which rules out compulsory redundancies, many schools in the Irish medium sector lack a redeployment scheme. This will mean that the affected teachers are in limbo at the present time.
Full Story: www.into.ie
