IPPN

Published: 04 November 2008

Source : Irish Times (Letters)

Tue, Nov 04, 2008

Madam, - The central thesis of Pat Courtney's article of November 3rd seems to be that Irish teachers are an exceptionally cosseted group compared with teachers in England.

However, Mr Courtney's thesis is deeply flawed because it is teachers in England who are the European exception, being distinguished by their low status, lack of professional autonomy and slavish participation in England's notorious "presenteeism" and long-hours culture.

All these no doubt contribute to ongoing difficulties in recruitment (recent figures reveal a shortfall of 75 per cent in recruitment targets for graduate chemistry teachers and a 82 per cent shortfall for physics). The retention rates of newly qualified teachers are similarly dismal and are reflected in the large numbers of able and well-qualified young teachers from Northern Ireland who prefer to return home to uncertain employment prospects after one or two years' experience of the English system.

Mr Courtney also does not mention that the English system is overseen by an enormous, multi-layered and costly bureaucracy and that the end result is a national literacy standard that struggles to reach the equivalent of 12 years.

While he may look back on his own experience as overwhelmingly positive, there is very little evidence that any other European country has anything to learn from the English system - apart from how not to do things. Anyone who doubts this should ask the Scots. - Yours, etc,

CHARLES GLENN, Deanfield, Derry.

Madam, - While Pat Courtney 's comments will doubtless cause some ire among the teachers of Ireland, it is refreshing to see such a well-articulated comparison between the teaching practice and attitudes of the UK system and Ireland's.

I was educated in the Northern Ireland system at both primary and post-primary level. I attended a Christian Brothers school and I look back with tremendous appreciation for the exemplary teaching from many of the "Brothers" and lay teaching staff who demonstrated the vocational aspects of their work by undertaking many extra-curricular activities with students in a co-operative manner. I greatly benefited from their dedication, inspiration, and hard work and my parents appreciated the chance to attend parent-teacher meetings several times a year, often scheduled after 7pm to facilitate working parents.

Believe me, if we in Ireland think we have the best education system in the world, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves. Our education system and curriculum and our teachers (primary and post-primary) are operating in the dark ages and it is time for a wake-up call to vocationalism (let's leave patriotism for another day) to help all our children to be the best that they can be. - Yours, etc,

Dr SEAN MacARDHAILL, Maigh Cuillin, Co Gaillimhe.

Madam, - I hope when I retire from teaching in 20 years that I will be afforded the same space as Pat Courtney to reminisce. And I wouldn't begrudge Mr Courtney his self-aggrandising memories of relating skilfully to his colleagues and students had it not been for the presentation of his "typical day" as if it were unique to the good old days.

Teaching always has been and always will be predicated on the quality of relationship between teacher and pupil. Anyone who has ever taught anyone anything, be they teacher, teenager, mechanic or Messiah, knows this simple truth.

It is this very banality however, and the personal tone in which it is written, that makes the piece so insidious. Because the ungracious implication throughout (that teachers in Ireland today are not delivering the self-sacrifice and love of Mr Courtney's yore) is thereby slipped into our consciousness all the more slickly. Yet, had it not been for the collusion of the sub-editor at one end ("A retired Irish-born teacher. . . suggests teachers here protest a little too much") and Mr Courtney's non-sequitur at the other ("Now that the pinch has come will they put their pupils first or protect their own selfish interests?") there wouldn't even have been the veneer of an actual point. And this lack of logical argument from a former science teacher! Really, Mr Courtney could do better.

He avers that he never complained as if that were a virtue in itself. I don't know if they taught SPHE (Social, Personal Health Education) back in his day in England, but asserting yourself has been given the thumbs up recently here. And what's more, I didn't stand on Molesworth Street last Wednesday for myself or my colleagues. I stood there to assert the rights of my students and my children to be in classes small enough to promote the very relationships between teacher and pupil which Mr Courtney claims to value. - Yours, etc,

CONOR NORTON, Woodlands Drive, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

© 2008 The Irish Times

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Published: 04 November 2008

Source : Irish Times

GRÁINNE FALLER

Tue, Nov 04, 2008

After a 12-year campaign, they are still waiting for a decent school at Blennerville, Co Kerry. Their case is sadly typical of how the hopes of school communities are raised, then dashed

ST BRENDAN'S National School appears to fit right into Blennerville, a quaint, pretty village on the outskirts of Tralee. The school building dates back to 1932. It's pleasing to the eye with its white walls and slate roof. You have to look closely to see the patchwork of slates, evidence of many roof repair jobs and it's only as you reach the building itself that you notice the boxy prefabricated buildings on the left. A walk around the back reveals the other prefabs that make up the rest of the school.

In 1996, the school was attended by just over 80 students. "The building was in very bad repair and I knew that our school population was going to increase, so we applied for a new school building," explains principal Michael O'Connor.

Twelve years on, they are still waiting. The school is a success story despite the hardship. There is an obvious rapport between staff and students. Despite the lack of facilities, the school has won national drama and science competitions.

O'Connor is proud of his staff and how they manage to cope, but his frustration is palpable. "You have no idea how much of my time and energy and everyone else's time and energy has gone into this over the past 12 years," he says. "Schools have been leapfrogged over us time and time again. We don't have a minister in this constituency and that's at the heart of it."

A 12-YEAR LONG AND WINDING ROAD - DIARY OF A BUILDING PROJECT

September 1996

Number of students: 80-plus. An application is made for a new school building

O'Connor: "I became principal here that year. I looked around me and I knew that this old building with four small classrooms and two toilets was not going to bring us into the future.

We considered building on an extension first. But we would have been stuck with those toilets, the timbers are old and the roof isn't insulated. All we had was the site so building on an extension would have meant losing the yard altogether."

After some discussions with the local inspector, it was agreed that an extension was not feasible. A decision was made to apply for a new school.

July 1997

A buildings inspector from the Department of Education calls to the school

OConnor: "He took one look and agreed that an extension would be a waste of time. He said a new building was needed."

With the backing of the buildings inspector, as well as the local schools inspector and his own board of management, O'Connor waited for the next step to begin. He waited, and he waited.

January 2000-January 2002

A new school building is granted. The Office of Public Works (OPW) is charged with looking for a suitable site. During this time, two prefabs are placed on school grounds to cope with the growing numbers of students.

O'Connor: "Don't think we sat on our laurels for three years waiting on a response to our application. We called, we chased people, we rattled every cage. Eventually, we got a letter in April 2000 granting us a six-classroom school."

It was now four years after the initial decision, and O'Connor was anxious to get a new building started. "I remember asking the people in the building unit when we could expect to have the school. I was shocked to hear that it was expected to take three years."

Spring 2002

The OPW contacts the school about looking for a suitable site

"Two years later, the OPW contacted us, but the problem is, there was nothing happening. We had been campaigning and campaigning and campaigning, and nothing. There were two possible sites for the new school but we heard nothing."

Sept 2003-July 2004

No word from the OPW. The school is forced to close down after a rat is found in the building. The INTO, having been aware of the case through the intervening years, orders a safety audit for the school.

O'Connor: "That health and safety report was a damning, damning document.''

The engineer concluded that the amount of space for children and teachers was woefully inadequate and dangerous in the event of an evacuation. Toilet facilities, as well as the general building structure, were criticised harshly.

Sept 2004-July 2005

The school windows have become unsafe and need to be replaced. The Department refuses funding, so they raise money and do it themselves. Still no word from the OPW, until a political intervention prompts the organisation to advertise for a site.

It wasn't until a chance encounter at a conference in Mullingar that a breakthrough was achieved. O'Connor gave a politician a lift in his car.

He recalls: "I asked him if he knew anyone in the OPW. He said he did. I told him our story and asked him to put a call in. I was afraid we were going to lose the second site at this stage. He said: 'If you don't hear from the OPW within the week, give me a call.'"

"Sure enough within the week someone contacted us and an advertisement for sites was put in the paper. That's what you're dealing with."

Sept 2005-July 2006

Number of students: 141. The OPW finally purchases a site for a new school behind the existing school. The first structure on the new site is another prefab. On St Patrick's Day, the roof blows off the toilets in the old building.

O'Connor: "We had to fix that. But at least with the site bought, we thought that signalled some intention to begin."

Sept 2006-July 2007

Finally, go-ahead is given to build a new eight-classroom school and a design team is to be appointed. In the meantime, another prefab is put on the new school site.

Things were finally looking up. O'Connor remembers: "We got a letter inviting the chairman of the board and myself up to Tullamore. We were told the money was there under the National Development Plan and they wanted to proceed without delay."

The Department had bought the site for the new building, as well as the site on which the school currently operates. O'Connor was told that they were going to advertise for a design team who would oversee the building of a new school. Delighted, the board of management opted for the generic design for an eight-classroom school. At last, things were under way.

Sept 2007

The school is informed that the advertisement to recruit a design team is in position. The design team will oversee the building project.

O'Connor: "We were wondering whether things would be underway before Christmas. I checked that there wouldn't be any planning issues and was told there would be no problems. I thought we were home and dry. At last, after 11 years and so much head-banging and meeting and calling and phoning."

November 2007

O'Connor rings to see whether a design team has been appointed. He is told that applications are in, but nobody has been appointed yet.

He wasn't unduly concerned, having heard that a hold had been put on various projects until the Budget was announced.

December 2007

The cold shoulder.

The Budget having been released, O'Connor began calling the department for some clarification. But none was forthcoming, despite numerous calls. "Even our own local TD was avoiding us."

January 2008

Desperate measures in desperate times.

Eventually, O'Connor's secretary calls the Department and refused to hang up the phone. After about 10 minutes, she is told that their building project is suspended- indefinitely.

November 2008

Number of students: 168. Number of teachers: eight (six mainstream, one resource and one learning support). Number of classrooms: four. Number of prefabs: four. Amount of money spent on maintenance last year: €17,000

A vague offer has been made to build a school by means of a public-private partnership. But there are few details forthcoming.

O'Connor now believes it is the only hope. "We're told nothing. There could be something in the Budget for us this year, but nobody tells us anything.''

Into the future

With pupil numbers rising, the school is set to get another teacher in 2010.

O'Connor: "The Department wonders why we can't you put on another temporary classroom. That's their answer for everything. It has been 12 years of chasing and calling and campaigning. We were an urgent and necessary case this time last year. Today, our situation is worse. Our project was urgent and necessary. Now it is suspended indefinitely. It is galling."

© 2008 The Irish Times

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Published: 03 November 2008

Source : Sunday Business Post
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."

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Published: 03 November 2008

Source : Irish Independent
Monday November 03 2008

A LONG, cold winter for the education sector was predicted last night as the Budget cuts continue to send shockwaves through schools.

The general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association warned that while some features of the cutbacks were immediately obvious, others would not become apparent until the roll-out in 2009.

The warning came as a town council tonight considers a motion put forward by a Fianna Fail councillor on "catastrophic" education cuts, and a new row blew up over sports being dropped at schools next year because of the cuts.

Parents of some students got letters this mid-term warning inter-school sporting activities will be stopped from January, along with field trips for geography and science, as well as visits to art galleries and theatres.

St Brendan's College, Killarney, has told parents it may send students home from the new year because of the withdrawal of substitution cover.

St Brigid's Presentation School, also in Killarney, has told parents it will lose €12,000 in funding under the cuts and will have to depend on fund-raising and the "generosity" of parents to make up the losses.

Colm O'Rourke, the principal of St Pats in Navan; and Pat Spillane, principal of St Goban's School in Bantry, Co Cork, also raised concerns about school sports last week. Sports Minister Martin Cullen said they were using "excessive and scaremongering language".

Michael Moriarty of the Vocational Education Association said: "The pre-Budget warnings could not have prepared the education partners for what was to come."

He said: "The proposed cuts in funding range across most areas of educational provision in the form of a 'scatter-gun' approach. The priority seems to have been to focus on achieving financial savings, without a full realisation of the impact of the cuts on the fabric on the Irish education system."

Mr Moriarty said that the range of the proposed cuts had overshadowed what positives there were in the Budget.

There would be a 3.2pc increase in overall expenditure on education, an increase in capital expenditure of €79m, and an increase in capitation grants to schools, he said.

"The real story remains, however, the detrimental effect of the funding cutbacks on schools, education services, and students. The debate and controversy is now all about students and learners," he said.

Mr Moriarty said he was particularly concerned at the withdrawal of certain financial grants to support the disadvantaged and marginalised in our schools and education centres.

Survival

"The culture of the survival of the fittest has always been a feature of society, but modern caring societies do try to balance the odds in terms of supports to the less-able or marginalised."

However, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe has said the budgetary decisions came against the backdrop of a difficult international economic situation.

Meanwhile, Tralee Town Council will hear a call tonight for a withdrawal of "the catastrophic cuts in education".

Former mayor of Tralee and secondary school teacher Norma Foley says the cuts will have "a devastating impact on our children and our country going forward".

Already the council in Tralee has seen the resignation from the Fianna Fail party of Councillor Kieran Moriarty, a primary school teacher, because of the cuts.

Ms Foley, who is the daughter of former Fianna Fail Kerry North TD Denis Foley, yesterday said she believed the cuts could still be reversed, if the Government listened.

- John Walshe Education Editor and Anne Lucey

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