Learning the hard way
- Published: 03 November 2008
Sunday, November 02, 2008 By Martha Kearns
It wasn't easy for the government to defend its cuts to the education budget last week.
It could not have looked worse for the government - thousands of rain-sodden children trailed alongside their teachers and parents carrying signs condemning budget cuts targeting the youngest in our society.
Coming on the back of the marches by the country's oldest citizens, last Wednesday's protest outside Leinster House has put added pressure on the coalition, which is already dealing with backbench revolts and Fianna Fail's dramatic drop in support according to last week's Sunday Business Post/Red C poll.
Then there was the ongoing uncertainty caused by Green Party education spokesman Paul Gogarty, who flip-flopped all week between standing firm and being on the verge of leaving government as a result of the education changes made in the budget.
It culminated last Thursday when a private e-mail emerged which Gogarty had sent to a constituent, in which he said his party might have to ''pull out of government'' over the education cuts. Later that day in the Dáil, he insisted he was ''working within government to effect positive change''.
Keeping the issue alive over the next few weeks will be a series of public protests, organised by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), planned for locations across the country every Saturday until Christmas.
While it is uncertain if the public has the appetite for such protests over a two-month period, regional protests have been planned to start on Saturday in Galway and will be followed by protests in Tullamore, Cork and Donegal, with a national rally in Dublin on December 6.
Secondary-school teachers are also voicing their concerns and are expected to join the INTO marches. Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) met Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe last Thursday to outline their concerns.
''We presented our views to the minister as forcefully as possible. We pointed out the damaging effects on individual schools. We gave examples of how school activities - such as the young scientist exhibition in January - will be severely curtailed if these cuts go ahead," said ASTI secretary general John White.
''Second-level school managers have stated clearly that there will be chaos in schools from January if these cuts go ahead, and we emphasised this with the minister."
But despite the pressure, the minister remains adamant that there can be no u-turn as he must take ''two steps back'' before he can take one forward. O'Keeffe said that ''much drama and, quite frankly, hysteria have been whipped up about protecting our children's future'', adding that the cuts had to be made in response to the financial problems facing the government.
H e said some of the ''hysterical claims'' being made in relation to class sizes and other cuts was ''scaremongering of the highest order''.
''Are you honestly saying to the Irish public that the primary school system will be in crisis next year because we are proposing to allocate mainstream classroom teachers to schools on the same basis as we did in the 2006/2007 school year? This is a measured adjustment and it is simply not credible to make such outlandish statements about its impact.
''The opposition are being opportunistic in stirring up unnecessary anxiety for thousands of families around the country. It should stop now," said the minister.
However, primary-school bosses warned for the first time last week that they faced school closures as a result of the changes in substitution rules. From January 1, substitute cover for teachers off sick will be suspended, unless the teacher has a doctor's note.
Sean Cottrell, director of the Irish Primary Principals Network, said that, if teachers were out of work for a number of days, some schools would have to use a rule that allows for exceptional school closures, normally used for extreme weather.
''Schools may have to invoke rule 60 which allows for school closures in unprecedented and unpreventable circumstances," said Cottrell.
However, this situation is likely to happen only in extreme cases, with the more likely scenario being that teachers will get a doctor's cert as soon as they can and principals will get substitution cover.
Some teachers did admit, off the record, to The Sunday Business Post, that a minority of teachers abused the system. It was also pointed out that teachers had among the lowest absenteeism rates in the public sector.
There is also confusion over the figures being used by the teaching unions and the department to come up with the number of jobs to be lost. The unions believe that more than 1,000 jobs will be lost and say that the minister does not have next year's enrolment figures.
This, they say, is why the department is claiming that only 400 jobs will be lost across the primary and secondary sector. O'Keeffe dismissed this claim, and said his department had al l the relevant data needed to calculate the losses.
A suggestion put forward by Fine Gael last week as a way of reversing job cuts would be for teachers, who are due a 3.5 per cent pay rise next September, to take a temporary pay freeze.
The party's education spokesman, Brian Hayes, said the proposal, which has already been dismissed by unions, would not be popular, but he felt that teachers would ''ultimately make a sacrifice'' if it led to smaller class sizes.
However, it is believed that the minister does not feel the same way or that Fine Gael would get much support for the proposal from the teachers.
The plan was also rejected by those at last Wednesday's march, including Clare Galvin, principal of Corpus Christi girls' national school in Drumcondra, Dublin. She said the issue of teachers taking a pay freeze was ''a very easy way of deflecting from the real issues''.
Also at the protest were parents Susan Duffy and Justin Levy, from Raheny, also in Dublin, with their two children Cian, 10, (who attends Glasnevin Educate Together national school) and Enya, 12, (who attends Mount Temple second-level school in Clontarf).
Duffy said the changes in class sizes would mean that Cian's school, where she said average classes had now between 25 and 30 pupils, would not be able to cope.
''We do not have the physical capacity to accommodate classes over 30, which we will now have to do - especially if the school cannot get cover for uncertified sick leave."
She said that Enya's school had already told them they would have no school trips or certain sports next year. ''Some schools have been told they might not have transition year next year. We can't believe that the government would not have looked at some other way of making the savings, instead of going straight for the hard-hitting cuts."
Also at the march were Maria and Gerald Lyons from Glasnevin, Dublin, with their children Megan, 13, John, 10 and Isabelle, 6. The couple were hoping Megan would be able to receive some hours of resource teaching at her school next year but they have been told that is unlikely now because of the cuts.
''We have also been told that school trips and other extracurricular activities - which are very important seminal moments for the children - will have to be cancelled next year," said Maria Lyons.
How cuts could affect schools
Corpus Christi girls' national school in Drumcondra, Dublin, which has 386 pupils, had been expected to gain a teacher this year. This did not happen because of the decision in the budget not to cut class sizes, as promised in the programme for government.
Of its 19 teachers, 14 are mainstream teachers, with three special education teachers, one full-time language teacher and another part-time language teacher. Its classes have 25 to 32 pupils per teacher.
The school had 14 children this year who were eligible for language support, but it believes it will lose the part-time language teacher as a result of the cuts.
''It means that these children will have no chance to learn the basic vocabulary they need on a day-to-day basis for social interaction," said principal Clare Galvin.
Galvin said the school would also be affected by cuts in remedial and resource grants. ''It will have a big impact and mean that we can't buy equipment for children with special needs and for in-service training for teachers to bring them up to speed with advances in areas like autism and ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]."
She said the cuts in book grants would also affect Corpus Christi. ''This grant was used to help children in financial difficulty. It was allocated to help parents who applied to us for funding, who could not afford the full brunt of the cost of buying school books for their children. There are a lot of disadvantaged children in all schools ; it's not just confined to designated Deis schools. Disadvantage can occur because of illness or if a parent lost their job, etc."
Because of the new substitution measures, Galvin said that, if someone was out sick, she would have to divide the children across classes, driving up class sizes even further. She did not think it would come to having to close the school, but did accept this was a possibility in a smaller school if a number of teachers were off sick.
''These cuts are targeting young children and come after the government made a commitment to reduce class sizes. I don't think the department thought out the strategy ; they just went for the easy targets."
