They braved freezing rain in their thousands, and all 'for the children'
- Published: 30 October 2008
Source : Irish Independent
Thursday October 30 2008
THEIR simmering anger to keep them warm, thousands of teachers, parents and children last night braved plummeting temperatures and sheeting rain to vent their fury at the Government's proposed cuts to the education budget.
We were told afterwards that about 7,000 had packed into Molesworth Street in Dublin. But with most huddled together to ward off the elements, it seems likely there were more, all cheering loudly as speaker after speaker took to the makeshift stand before passionately outlining the bleak immediate future for schooling as things stand.
And if you think it all sailed over the young heads in the crowd, you would be mistaken.
"It means in my school that there will be cuts in teachers and in special needs teachers, and my brother needs a special needs teacher," Eoin O'Connell (10) said, explaining succinctly his reason for travelling from Ratoath, in Meath. "He's only five, and needs his teacher."
The argument, of course, is that this eloquent youngster is in the minority, and that children -- unlike the thousands of pensioners or students that took to the streets of the capital last week -- don't generally have a voice that is heard by government. And that is why concerned adults took up the slack by travelling yesterday, from Kerry and Donegal, from Mayo and Waterford, despite the rain, wind and even snow, to stand in the shadow of Leinster House and to display their anger at many of those sheltering within it.
Within it, and in the warmth, they were about to begin the divisive Dail debate on the proposed cutbacks. Outside in the cold, many were close to boiling point.
"We're so angry at the way they've targeted children and don't think for a moment that they are targeting teachers," Claire Tallant, herself a primary school teacher, said.
"We're here today for the children, not for ourselves or our jobs or more money.
"And to hear him talking about how big classes didn't stop today's adults bringing through the Celtic Tiger makes my blood boil -- that was a totally different curriculum."
The 'him' in question is Batt O'Keeffe, the Education Minister and the man who is not for turning.
Privately, many in the crowd admitted they are not overly confident that the Government will row back this time, following the damaging medical card u-turn last week. But they at least have a good recent memory to draw inspiration from. And they warned that they have good memories.
Voted
"I was here last week for my medical card," Christopher Mullins, a pensioner from Dundrum, confirmed. "I'm here today for my grandkids. They deserve more than this. I voted Fianna Fail all my life but those days are over."
It will be a long way back for Batt and Biffo.
He was targeted through the placards last night as Halloween bats vied for space with educational putdowns -- 'Hey Batt, leave those kids alone' -- but Mr O'Keeffe wisely remained in his bunker as the buses started pulling from 5pm and the trickle of people slowly became a flood. The organisers claimed that up to 15,000 were there at its peak, while the gardai estimated it at closer to 7,000. Either way, by 6.35pm children were looking to their parents to shoulder some more responsibility -- their weight.
Again and again, we were told that it was all about the children.
"There's a real feeling of frustration in the staffroom as to how this will play out," Brenda Ui Chathasaigh, a teacher from Dingle, in Kerry, explained. Kerry, you might have heard, likes its Gaelic football.
"It means that teachers will be back to a stage of begging others to take classes while they bring lads for a game or whatever, and eventually they'll just stop asking. It's things like football, things like art and music that will be lost to the kids."
As the speakers began, the rain started to fall again. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore was cheered on to the platform like a minor rock star.
He spoke well, but it was a hoarse John Carr of the INTO who stole the show, declaring the stinging cutbacks to be "an act of educational sabotage" and a "full-frontal attack" against children.
The crowd, swelled further by the arrival of hundreds of teaching students from St Pat's in Drumcondra lapped it up.
O'Keeffe's scare claim enrages teachers
- Published: 30 October 2008
Source : Irish Independent
By John Walshe and Aine Kerr
Thursday October 30 2008
ANGRY teachers last night rejected Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe's claim that they were 'scaremongering' over education cuts.
At a mass rally attended by between 7,000 and 10,000 pupils, teachers and parents outside the Dail last night, unions and management bodies insisted the Government's proposed cutbacks would create classroom chaos from January and diminish the quality of education.
Incensed at the minister's recent attacks on teacher unions, a furious John Carr, INTO General Secretary, said the accusation of "scaremongering" was a "pathetic accusation" and an "act of pure desperation". He congratulated teachers and parents for coming out in their thousands during the mid-term break and on a rain-soaked evening.
"This is not about teachers. It is about pupils and their futures. Children do not have a voice or a vote. How dare anyone accuse me of self-interest when I have spent my life working to improve primary education," Mr Carr told protesters.
"How dare anyone accuse me of scaremongering when I am doing what few in government are prepared to do -- tell the truth to the Irish people".
The embattled Green Party, which was not represented at last night's event, also drew criticism from the INTO with Mr Carr arguing that the Green TDs had been elected on education promises.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore pointed to the decision to cut €7m in funding for books as an example of one of the harshest cuts inflicted on schools countrywide.
"What on Earth does this Government have against books?" he asked.
The Labour leader called again on all TDs, irrespective of party, to vote against the Government in a private members' motion today in the Dail.
Unpatriotic
Teachers' Union of Ireland president Don Ryan accused Mr O'Keeffe and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan of being "grievously unpatriotic".
"You have cut the legs from underneath an already creaking education system -- a system that is seriously under-funded by international standards; languishing in the lower league of developed countries and awaiting relegation to the league of third-world countries," he said.
Chief executive of the National Parents Council (primary) Aine Lynch said a third of parents had reported difficulties in paying the "voluntary contribution" that their children's school requested.
Joe Moran, ASTI vice president, also described as "misleading" the claim by Mr O'Keeffe that there would only be 200 fewer second-level teachers in schools.
- John Walshe and Aine Kerr
Over 12,000 Demonstrate Against Budget Cuts
- Published: 30 October 2008
Source : INTO
Over 12,000 parents, teachers and members of the public gathered last night in a rally against the proposed cuts in education announced in Budget 2009.
Changes in school: The effects of budget cutbacks in the classrooms
- Published: 30 October 2008
Source : Irish Examiner
31st October 2008
By Niall Murray Education Minister
EDUCATION Minister Batt O'Keeffe has insisted school staffing changes proposed in Budget 2009 will return them to teacher allocations they had in 2007, when he says "the roof did not collapse".
From next September, schools will have one classroom teacher for every 28 pupils at primary level, and for every 19 students in second-level schools.
But budget measures other than those staffing changes will mean that, when schools reopen after the summer holidays, many other things will be quite different from what they were in 2007.
LANGUAGE SUPPORT
Schools with high numbers of international children were given increased teachers in September 2007 to help children whose first language was not English.
This was to be the first stage of a Government commitment in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement to provide an extra 550 language support teachers by 2009.
Up to then, one language support teacher was sanctioned for every 14 children in this category, but to a maximum of two.
Primary and second-level pupils have benefited from these extra teachers in the past two school years, but all schools will again be limited to two language support teachers from next autumn, meaning an automatic loss of four staff in dozens of schools.
There will be a double blow for those newcomer children in 2009 as, not only will they lose a few hours a week of English language teaching, they will be further diluted into larger classes than the previous two years.
This is also likely to have an impact on their classmates, as teachers strive to help children who have difficulty understanding what is being taught.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
The Government has boasted of its success integrating children with varying special educational needs, and the increased number of special needs assistants in our schools is testimony to that.
But as with the international students, these children's requirement for individual attention is vital to helping them reach their potential.
Even if primary and second-level class sizes were the same as they were in 2007, there is likely to be an increased proportion of pupils among the extra 14,000 Mr O'Keeffe predicts will be sitting in classrooms around the country next autumn.
The one-to-one help they get will therefore be less than two years earlier, as will the ability of teachers to cater for all the other students.
FUNDING
From next September, schools with Traveller students will be given just half the money they have received in previous years to help keep them in education by helping out with the costs of books, class materials and uniforms, and many schools previously given support for having high numbers of disadvantaged students will lose that funding.
Primary schools will have an average of €600 less next autumn in extra funding for learning materials used by teachers helping children with learning difficulties, or for the remaining language support teachers.
CURRICULAR CHANGE
The roll-out of a wider curriculum at primary and second level each year means more focus on children working in small groups to get a hands-on feel for many subjects.
In primary level science, a subject the Government is trying to get more young people interested in for the sake of the economy, teachers already complain that they are struggling to allow children working in sufficiently small groups to do their own experiments in class.
This was highlighted in a recent report by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), statutory advisers to Mr O'Keeffe, on implementation of the subject at primary level. The second-level staffing reductions — will mean schools possibly dropping science subjects as an option for Leaving Certificate students.
Higher and honour-level classes previously split up by schools might have to be taught together, meaning teachers' time being shared between students of different abilities.
Today's Vote a Slap in the Face
- Published: 30 October 2008
Source : INTO
30th October 2008
Today's Vote a Slap in the Face
The INTO has called today's vote in the Dáil on class sizes a slap in the face to primary education.
John Carr, General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, said government deputies who voted to increase class sizes in primary schools would have to explain their decision to school communities in every part of the country.
"The last time these government deputies went to the electorate," said Carr, "they committed to investment in primary education and smaller class sizes. Today, government deputies had a chance to prove to the people that they meant what they said. Today, government deputies showed they did not mean what they said at the time of the last election."
He said teachers, along with parents and management, were standing up for pupils and the education system. "This is not about teachers," said Carr. "It is about pupils and their futures."
Mr Carr denied that teachers were scaremongering or pursuing self-interest. "Teacher unions are telling the truth about the extent and the impact of the cuts. Parents will very quickly see this when the cuts take effect in schools."
He said meetings would be held in schools all over the country so that the full effects of the government's proposals would be explained.
Mr Carr said the comments made by the Kerry South TD, Jackie Healy Ray, needed to be explained in full. "Is there going to be one staffing schedule for South Kerry and one for the rest of the country?" asked Mr Carr. "Are language posts going to be saved in south Kerry while schools in other parts of the country lose teachers? Will south Kerry schools get more funding than schools in other parts of Ireland?"
Mr Carr said both the Minister and the south Kerry TD should come clean on whatever deal they have made.
ENDS
