Children suffer in teaching scandal [Independent.ie]
- Published: 25 April 2011
THIS week, as always in the Easter season, the teaching unions will gather for their annual conferences.
Their members will express their concerns, in explicit and sometimes heated terms, to the new Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn. And these concerns will be more numerous and pressing than usual.
Like everybody else, the teachers have been hit hard by the financial crisis. Large numbers of the unions' members, especially recent graduates, have the utmost difficulty finding jobs.
At the same time, recent reports have shocked the sector with their revelations about declining standards in Irish education. We have fallen steeply in the world tables. Almost a quarter of our 15-year-old boys are illiterate. We lag in mathematics and science.
There are widespread complaints that at every level, including university, students are not taught how to think for themselves.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Substitutes get paid between €127 and €195 per day in class [Independent.ie]
- Published: 25 April 2011
WHAT is subbing work?
A substitute is called in, often at short notice, to replace a teacher who is absent due to illness. It can also be for longer-term cover, such as maternity leave.
So, what's the difference between subbing work and a temporary teaching position?
Temporary usually refers to replacement of someone on unpaid leave, such as a career break, or filling a non-permanent post, such as English language teaching.
What is the principal supposed to do if a teacher calls in sick early in the morning?
Fill the position and get a teacher in front of the class. If it's a sudden one-day absence, the class may have to be split between the other teachers in the school, but any longer and a sub must be found.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Teaching 'more difficult in past 10 years' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 25 April 2011
THE public believe teaching has become more difficult in the past 10 years, a new survey for the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) shows.
But it shows there is an understanding among the public of the difficulty of the work in schools.
According to the survey, by Behaviour and Attitudes, 62pc of the public thought the range of weekly tasks second-level teachers had to complete had increased compared with 10 years ago; with 10pc believing that these tasks had decreased.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Minister hopes to quell closure fears [Independent.ie]
- Published: 25 April 2011
EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn will today insist he is not planning the widespread closure of small primary schools.
As he embarks on his first round of teacher conferences as minister, Mr Quinn wants to quell teachers' concerns that hundreds of schools will soon disappear.
A value-for-money review of the 650 small primary schools with fewer than 50 pupils got under way shortly before he took office.
The closure of small schools was mooted in economist Colm McCarthy's so-called Bord Snip report, with a view to saving €18m a year.
About one in five Irish primary schools have fewer than 50 pupils, while a small number have fewer than 20 pupils.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
How unqualified are taking teachers' jobs [Independent.ie]
- Published: 25 April 2011
PRIMARY school children are being taught by hundreds of unqualified teachers, while graduates struggle to find work.
The scale of the scandal is underlined by the revelation that 400 people with no teaching qualifications worked for at least 50 days in primary schools in the current school year.
The 50 days represents more than a quarter of the full school year.
Figures obtained by the Irish Independent also show that half of the country's 3,200 primary schools employed an unqualified person for up to a week in the September-February period.
It is the first time the scale of unqualified teaching levels have been revealed.
And it raises serious questions about how the Department of Education has allowed unqualified teachers to continue to work in schools in such large numbers, for so long.
There is no formal system to provide cover for teachers who are sick or on leave, and principals often struggle to find a replacement at short notice.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
