IPPN

Published: 20 October 2008

RTE

listen Monday, 20 October 2008

A third teachers' union has said Government figures on the impact of budget cuts in schools are wrong.

The Teachers' Union of Ireland said it believes 1,200 second-level teaching jobs will be lost, and not 200, as stated by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe.

Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation John Carr has said budget provisions increasing class sizes are the most callous, savage attack ever undertaken against primary school children in this country.
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On RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, he said Irish children are going to be in the largest class sizes in Europe.

He added that from 1 January there will be no replacement if a teacher is sick, which may result in children being sent home.

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Published: 18 October 2008

Irish Times

Opinion: Education should have been a top Budget priority, as it is a prime route out of poverty, writes Breda O'Brien

AS SOME readers may know, this columnist has spent nearly 20 years of her life teaching young people.

Teachers are well used to the fact that Irish education languishes at the bottom of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development funding tables. Many of them around the country have forgotten what it is like to work in anything other than a leaky prefab. Our expectations from budgets are not high and, knowing the world economy is facing chaos did not raise hopes.

Yet the Budget still shocked us. Despite years of promising to cut class numbers, they are to be raised. The last time this happened was in 1987. We have some of the biggest class sizes in Europe. What was the Minister thinking?

Before the last election, the Irish National Teachers Organisation hosted meetings where irate parents turned out in droves to demand that the Government take action.

There are nearly 100,000 primary children in classrooms of more than 30 pupils. The programme for government promised to reduce pupil-teacher ratios to 24 to one by 2010/2011, but the pupil teacher ratio is to rise by one point at both primary and second level. To add insult to injury, Batt O'Keeffe declared that it would have no impact in classrooms.

In reality, it mostly hurts the children who are struggling, whether it be with recognised learning difficulties or because they are too shy to say they are falling behind. At second level it will limit subject choices and increase class sizes in core subjects like English and maths.

The Government did not stop there. Parents of thousands of second-level pupils who travel by school bus face a hike in fees from €168 for junior cycle pupils and €234 for senior cycle pupils to a flat fee of €300 for both.

Some of the cuts target the most disadvantaged, such as the cut in the capitation grant for Travellers. Some are mean, like cutting the allocation for school book schemes and reducing grants for the Leaving Cert Applied. The Budget caps English language support teachers at two to a school, no matter how many pupils are in need. It also dispenses with teaching posts in disadvantaged schools that did not meet the flawed criteria for inclusion in the new scheme.

Many of the Budget's measures smack of desperate attempts to save money, with little thought as to their impact. Many readers will have fond memories of trips outside the classroom, remembering them long after classes have faded from memory.

One of the measures in the Budget was that substitution would no longer be provided for a teacher who wishes to provide educational experiences outside class. Some of the newer second- level courses demand fieldwork, but no cover will be provided for a teacher attempting to provide this.

If a teacher is too sick to come to school for a day or two, no cover will be given unless a doctor's cert is provided.

Teachers' unions and principals' representative bodies have been fielding calls from alarmed principals who realise this is unworkable. It will hit hard at primary level, where classes will have to be split among colleagues.

Given that classes will be bigger, having five or six extra children will be even more difficult. This move will result in more sick teachers struggling into school, meaning poorer teaching and prolonged illnesses. No one wins.

The Minister appears to have forgotten his history. One agreement hammered out after the bitter industrial action by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland was on supervision and substitution, concerning supervising pupils at non-class times and providing substitute cover for sick teachers or those absent on school business. The Minister says this scheme won't be touched. Good.

Lest he come under pressure to reverse his view, he should remember that substitution is a sensitive area for teachers.

It is dispiriting to see nearly a 30 per cent cut in the allocation to information and communication technology (ICT) activities.

In a final blow to teachers, those hoping to take early retirement have discovered the scheme is being discontinued. Forcing people with credible reasons to leave teaching to remain is counter-productive.

Some credit should be given for progress in certain areas. For example, the allocation for non- teaching staff such as special needs assistants, caretakers and clerical staff has been increased by 13 per cent at primary level and at second level by 17 per cent.

There is a much-needed rise in the allocation to the National Educational Psychological Services. It is good to see that investment in school buildings is to continue.

It is hard to see where cuts could be made that would hurt no one in education. However, health and education should be top priorities in any budget. Of all areas to cut, education is one of the most foolish, as it represents a way out of poverty for so many.

People are asking, where did all the cash go? Why did we not invest more when we had it? We had a chance to invest in education and we failed. The consequences of that failure will be seen for decades.

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Published: 18 October 2008

Irish Times

Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE CHURCH of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev John Neill has accused Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe of striking "directly at the disadvantaged" by removing the block grant and ancillary funding to Protestant schools.

"The Minister's department is well aware that the Protestant block grant and the ancillary funding has allowed our schools to provide for significant numbers of pupils from families in economic difficulties, including those on the minimum wage or in receipt of social welfare," he said.

He continued: "The so-called 'anomalous situation' was introduced by one of his predecessors in recognition that the small number of Protestant secondary schools existed to provide not only for a scattered community, but also for those for whom the State could not provide 'free schooling' within the ethos of their own churches." The Minister's decision would "damage the delivery of education to the children of the Church of Ireland and other Protestant communities".

At the Church of Ireland Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synods this week, church members expressed dismay and deep concern at implications of last Tuesday's Budget for their schools.

Frances Hill, principal of King's Hospital secondary school in Dublin, said the proposed withdrawal of support services constituted "a major threat to the very existence of some of our schools". She said Budget provisions were in breach of the 1966 agreement between the State and Protestant fee-paying schools. The pupil-teacher ratio at fee-paying secondary schools is to be raised to 20 to 1.

She felt "great concern at comments by Mr O'Keeffe that the different treatment of fee-paying schools was 'symbolic'. I feel threatened by that - that further distinctions may follow." It was "totally unacceptable that these unilateral changes can be made and it requires an urgent response from our church at the highest level".

Rev Norman Gamble, rector of Malahide, criticised "the immoral behaviour of our public representatives" when it came to breaking promises "about our schools".

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Published: 18 October 2008

Irish Times

A series of 32 Budget cuts in education may have slipped below the radar because of the medical card dispute, writes Seán Flynn Education Editor

WHEN THE dust settles on the medical card dispute, it seems certain the cuts in education will be the next battleground for the Government. In all, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe has imposed 32 separate cuts across the education sector. They have gained scant media attention because of the focus on the medical card issue, but they carry the potential to seriously damage the Government.

There are two reasons for this. The education cuts could generate chaos in schools and see children sent home. And there is a mean- spiritedness about some of these cuts - especially those affecting the disadvantaged, special needs pupils, Travellers and foreign nationals - which make them very difficult to defend.

When he gave details of the education budget to reporters on Tuesday evening, the Minister appeared well satisfied with his work. He had secured a 3 per cent overall increase in education funding and an increase in the school-building programme.

But the devil was in the detail. Lurking inside a five-page briefing document was a plethora of cuts. The Minister was unapologetic. "Sometimes," he said, "you have to take one step backward to take two steps forward."

Reaction to the education cuts was something of a slow burner. But by Wednesday afternoon the phones were hopping in the offices of the teacher unions and the school management groups. One school manager said: "I have never experienced anything like it. There was seething anger out there."

It was the changes in substitution cover that most exercised school principals and teachers. In the past, substitution was done on a voluntary basis by teachers, with no extra money and often less thanks.

But after the ASTI dispute in 2003 the department moved belatedly to introduce a proper, professional structure for substitute work. Broadly, each school has a built-in allowance for substitute work. But critically, school principals can also employ substitute teachers for uncertified sick leave for up to three days. Substitute cover is also provided for teachers on official school business.

All of this changed in the Budget. The Minister has withdrawn substitute cover for all uncertified sick leave and for teachers on official school business at second level from January. In practice, school principals say there will not be sufficient substitute cover if several teachers are ill. There will also be insufficient cover if teachers are taking pupils on field trips during school hours.

Yesterday, John Carr of the usually moderate INTO said the decision would leave primary schools with no alternative but to send children home. He said the move by Mr O'Keeffe would heap huge hardship on parents who could be forced to find childminding services at short notice.

John White of the ASTI said school principals have also advised the union that pupils will have to be sent home.

School managers also say there is a distinct prospect of children being sent home in January. One said yesterday: "The Budget cuts in substitution cover reveal an astonishing lack of awareness of how schools function. But it will all begin to unravel when kids are sent home and Mam is on Joe Duffy."

In another move which surprised and dismayed the education sector, the Budget has moved to increase class size from 27 to 28 at primary and 18 to 19 at second level. The Minister admits there will be 400 fewer teachers in the system, but teacher unions and school principals say this is a gross underestimate.

Yesterday, the ASTI was inundated with calls from schools stating that the service they can offer to their pupils will shrink to the levels offered in the 1950s.

The union was contacted by a school in Ennis which will lose five teachers, a school in Clonmel which will lose three teachers and a community school in Dublin which will lose three teachers.

At primary level - where pupil numbers are projected to rise by more than 100,000 in the next decade, the INTO says 1,000 jobs will be taken out of the system next year.

If all of this were not enough, the Budget imposed a series of cuts which leave the Government open to the charge that it has targeted the weak and the disadvantaged. These include:

• A limit of two language support teachers for schools - and only unspecified additional help for students with a high concentration of foreign pupils;
• The decision to defer implementation of the Education for Pupils with Special Needs Act, which confers new rights on special needs pupils and their parents;
• A €7.5 million cut in school book funds for disadvantaged schools;
• New cuts in supports for Travellers in education.

Yesterday, the various teacher unions were cranking up their machines as the battle against this wave of education cutbacks began. The INTO will write to more than 500,000 parents to explain the impact of the cuts on their children, the first salvo in what will be a long battle.

Yesterday, it appeared confident the latest cuts could be reversed. A spokesman said: "Once parents realise the impact on schools, the Government will be under intense pressure."

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