Batt O'Keeffe's casually misleading approach to statistics make him entirely unsuitable to be a government minister. Shortly after his appointment, he had to withdraw figures he had released which purported to show that the reintroduction of third-level fees would generate €530m in revenue for the exchequer. The actual figure was €130m.
Last week, O'Keeffe (above) announced that 12,500 teachers were absent on sick leave on Mondays last year. A few hours later, he had to withdraw that figure too. For the record, there were a total of 59,992 uncertified sick days last year, about one per teacher. It's hardly a crisis.
Diarmuid Doyle - Statistically challenged O'Keeffe entirely unsuited to be a minister
- Published: 22 November 2008
Source : Sunday Tribune
O'Keeffe claim on teachers' sick leave angers unions teachers
- Published: 21 November 2008
Source : Irish Times
SEÁN FLYNN, Education Editor
Fri, Nov 21, 2008
MINISTER FOR Education Batt O'Keeffe has accused teachers of widespread abuse of sick leave, especially on Mondays and Fridays.
His comments incensed teachers' unions who were also accused by the Minister yesterday of "exaggerating'' the impact of Budget cutbacks.
The Minister also accused the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) of exhorting parents to join their current campaign of protest. He said he had received protest letters even from children in fourth, fifth and sixth class in primary schools. "I wonder if that is appropriate," he told the Dáil education committee.
The Minister's various allegations provoked a strong response from the teacher unions.
The INTO accused Mr O'Keeffe of misleading the public in relation to teachers' sick leave. The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI)said the Minister was an increasingly isolated figure, engaging in a "blame game" as he attempted to defend the indefensible.
Mr O'Keeffe revealed that the teacher substitution regime was costing over €180 million per year. Figures released yesterday show the department paid for over 12,000 uncertified substitution days on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays last year.
The figures cover both primary and secondary schools. In a detailed presentation to the committee, Mr O'Keeffe referred specifically to the high cost of substitutions on Mondays and Fridays.
A spokesman for Mr O'Keeffe denied that the Minister was claiming widespread abuse by teachers. The Minister was putting the figures out there, he said.
INTO general secretary John Carr said there was clearly not a problem in relation to teachers' sick leave. "According to the Minister's figures, there was a total of 59,992 uncertified sick days. This works out at about one per teacher per year. "A total of 12,734 uncertified substitute days in the whole school year were used on Mondays. This works out at an average of 340 on any given Monday. It is just over 0.5 per cent of the teaching population."
In another spat with the INTO, Mr O'Keeffe said the union had exaggerated the impact of the increase in class size, using terms like "Armageddon" and "apocalypse". The reality, he said, was that the Budget reverted class size to 2006 levels when teachers and schools still managed to perform strongly. He said he was asking for the union's co-operation "at a time when people in the private sector are losing jobs all over the place and when a lot of other people are taking pain".
School managers have said the cutbacks in teacher substitution will leave them with no choice but to close schools from January. Yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe signalled that some compromise was still possible as he would be examining possible solutions proposed by the various education partners.
But he still needed to save €28 million from the substitution bill. Mr O'Keeffe acknowledged that schools faced real difficulties in January. "I am saying to the union: we are in dire straits, I need your flexibility."
Breakdown of uncertified substitute days paid by day of the week ; ie sick days without a doctor's cert
Monday12,734
Tuesday12,139
Wednesday11,407
Thursday11,131
Friday12,581
Total number of days 59,992
The total cost of substitution cover in primary and secondary schools is €183 million.This includes €17 million in uncertified sick leave .
* Source: Department of Education and Science
Principals refuse to supervise classes when cover is withdrawn
- Published: 21 November 2008
Source : Irish Examiner
VOCATIONAL school principals will not spend their time minding classes that require supervision because of the Government's decision to cut back on payments for substitute teachers, a conference has heard.Kevin O'Meara, president of Principals and Deputy Principals (PDA) which represents managers in 240 vocational schools and community colleges, said the removal of substitution cover for teachers absent on school business or suffering illness from January will have a catastrophic effect on the day-to-day running of schools.
"Huge practical difficulties will arise from this decision, which will impact on field trips, participation in inter-schools games and sporting activities, outdoor education programmes and a host of extra-curricular activities," he said.
Mr O'Meara told the PDA annual conference in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan that this will be worsened by the uncertainty of coping with the number of teachers who may be absent due to uncertified sick leave on any given day, as the Department of Education will no longer pay substitution costs for these absences either.
School management bodies have warned that boards may have no choice but to send students home in January due to these restrictions.
"It is outrageous that the proper, professional structure for supervision and substitution introduced five years ago can be arbitrarily taken away at the stroke of a pen," said Mr O'Meara, principal of Plunkett College in Ringsend, Dublin.
"We must not allow a situation develop whereby we spend much of our time as principals and deputy principals minding classes as was the case prior to the new arrangements for which we fought so hard, " he said.
Martin Wallace, principal of Castletroy College in Limerick, said there is a real danger that students might not be able to attend the Young Scientist Exhibition in January because of the changes, as schools will not be able to free enough staff to accompany groups to the event.
Meanwhile, reports published on the Department of Education website have again highlighted inadequate facilities in some of the country's schools observed by the department's inspectors.
Among those to have whole school evaluations published was Scoil Chríost Rí in Ennis, Co Clare, where inspectors said the design and condition of the buildings could have a detrimental effect on the school's work and delivery of the curriculum.
They referred to the inadequate dimensions of many classrooms, the absence of space for support work and the isolation of some prefabs from the main building.
Teacher sickies hit 60,000 in year
- Published: 21 November 2008
Source : Killkenny People
Teachers took almost 60,000 uncertified sick days last year, it emerged.And according to the Department of Education the state paid out 17 million euro in substitute cover for the sickies. Another 45 million euro was spent on bringing in supply teachers for certified sick leave, where absentees have a doctor's note.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe insisted he has to shave 28 million euro off the substitute teacher bill next year, as part of a raft of contentious measures in last month's Budget.
Mr O'Keeffe also accused teachers' unions of scaremongering the public with claims that the education system was facing Armageddon. Appealing directly to the unions, he said: "We're in dire straits financially. We need flexibility. Until we come to the period when the economy comes back, we need co-operation and support."
He added: "I need to cut 28 million euro off substitution costs in 2009. That is a target I have to achieve." Mr O'Keeffe detailed the number of sick days during the 2007-2008 school year at the Oireacthas Committee on Education.
Departmental figures and school records show 12,734 Mondays were lost; 12,139 Tuesdays; 11,407 Wednesdays; 11,131 Thursdays; and 12,581 Fridays without a sick line from doctors.
In total, 608,422 sick days were taken in primary and secondary schools. Some 59,992 days were taken without medical certs. In primary, secondary, community and VEC schools around 11% of sick days are uncertified. Substitute teachers cost the state an estimated 183 million euro, according to the Department.
John Carr, INTO general secretary, disputed the figures claiming: "Teachers in general have top class attendance records and only take time off when absolutely necessary. In fact, many teachers turn up when not fit to be at work." The INTO said cutting the substitute teaching budget would cause chaos in schools.
Former Government TD Joe Behan, who quit Fianna Fail over Budget measures on medical cards for over-70s, claimed the Cabinet got it wrong by cutting education funding. "The Government made a very serious mistake by not prioritising the education needs of young people," he told the Oireachtas Education Committee.
O'Keeffe accuses teachers of 'scaremongering' tactics
- Published: 21 November 2008
Source : Irish Independent
EDUCATION Minister Batt O'Keeffe was embroiled in another heated row with teachers' unions yesterday.
He accused their leaders of using "emotive" and "dangerous" language and of exaggerating the impact of the Budget measures on education.
The war of words intensified as the INTO in turn accused the minister of misleading the public over the issue of teachers' sick leave while the TUI rejected suggestions that it was involved in scaremongering.
The latest spat between the minister and the teachers' unions flared as Mr O'Keeffe stoutly defended the budgetary measures on education during a grilling at the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science.
Hitting out at the use of words like "armageddon" and "catastrophic" to describe how the sector had been affected, Mr O'Keeffe said the country was in "dire" financial straits and he needed the flexibility and co-operation of teachers and their union leaders.
Extreme
"I know that the measures to be implemented next year will present challenges at school level. However, as I have said repeatedly, I cannot accept the extreme claims being made about their impact," he said.
Mr O'Keeffe said that while the unions had the interests of their members at heart, he had to look after the interests of the economy to ensure children had a future they could look forward to.
"I need your co-operation and flexibility," he told union leaders. "I know it's going to be difficult in a number of areas but we are in dire financial straits. We need some flexibility and we need to reduce costs, and until the economy comes back to where it should be I need your support."
Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes said the substitution measures would cause havoc in classrooms while new staffing levels would result in 500 schools losing at least one teacher next year.
Former Fianna Fail TD, Joe Behan, who quit the party over the Budget, said the minister had made a serious mistake by becoming involved in a row with the unions at a time when they should all be pulling together.
But Mr O'Keeffe found himself in more hot water after telling the committee he did not have the money to continue meeting the rising cost of providing substitute teachers and he would stick to his target of shaving €28m from the cost of the scheme. Under new arrangements to come into effect from January, teachers on sick leave will, in future, need a medical cert before a substitute teacher is provided.
The minister said that 12,500 teachers were absent on uncertified sick leave on Mondays last year -- a statement later amended by his spokesman who explained that he was referring not to actual teachers but to the number of uncertified substitute days paid for during the year. The total number of uncertified days during the year came to almost 60,000.
"I'm not underestimating the difficulties that will arise in 2009 for schools. But I don't have the money within my budget to meet the rising cost of substitutions."
Accusing the minister of misleading the public, INTO general secretary John Carr said that on average there was just over one uncertified sick day per teacher per year and there was clearly not a problem in relation to teachers' sick leave.
"The minister knows that his proposals in relation to sick leave will cause chaos and turmoil in schools. This has been confirmed by school management. He is now trying to blame teachers for taking sick days, creating a misleading impression that teachers take an inordinate amount of sick leave, when in fact the opposite is true."
The Teachers Union of Ireland also criticised Mr O'Keeffe and said it rejected claims of scaremongering.
Mr O'Keeffe later had to run a gauntlet of protesters in Trinity College last night. The minister was met by more than 200 students concerned at moves to reintroduce college fees.
- Fergus Black
