IPPN

Published: 15 October 2008

Irish Examiner

By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

LARGER class sizes and less subject choice is the prospect for school children after the Department of Education decided to increase pupil teacher ratios in a strongly-criticised reversal of Government promises.

Primary schools will only be allowed one teacher for every 28 pupils from next September, up from the current level of 27 children. This comes in spite of a commitment in last year's Programme for Government to reduce the staffing schedule from the 27:1 pupil teacher ratio at the time to one teacher for every 24 children by September 2010.

At second level, schools will be allocated a teacher for every 19 students, compared to the current ratio of 18 students per teacher, despite commitments in the Programme for Government to prioritise class size reductions in core subjects.

The moves are among a number of changes to school staffing that will mean 400 fewer teachers on the department's pay bill next year, despite tens of thousands more pupils enrolling next autumn. Schools will be limited to just two language support teachers each, regardless of the number of students whose first language is not English, meaning losses of a number of staff in dozens of schools.

Most of the cuts will be made by non-filling of vacancies but Minister for Education Mr O'Keeffe said redundancies would be the only option at second level if a redeployment scheme is not agreed with teacher unions.

The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) said it isbeyond belief that the minister would reverse his promise on class sizes, which will now become the largest in Europe, one-in-four primary pupils already in classes of 30 or more

"Children have been left to pay the price for Fianna Fáil's love-in with the building industry but, just like when Minister Lenihan's aunt increased class sizes in the 1980s, we will oppose this with every method at our disposal," said INTO president Declan Kelleher.

But Mr O'Keeffe urged teachers and parents to be patient during the difficult times over the next two years to allow the economy grow and Government commitments to be honoured, but over a longer period than was originally planned.

"This is the least disruptive action we can take, it does not affect the education of the children. While there might be greater class sizes in some instances, the quality of education according to an OECD report, is the absolute in terms of giving children a good education, not the number of pupils in the classroom," the minister said.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers' Union of Ireland said the cuts were unconscionable, foolhardy, and a vote of no confidence in young people.

"Cutting pupil-teacher ratios will mean less subject choice for students, reduced focus on science and maths education, and classes of 30 teenagers or more will be commonplace," said ASTI general secretary John White.

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB) which represents 400 second level school boards, said the removal of substitution cover for teacher absences on school business would make it difficult to facilitate extra curricular activities and student attendance at seminars, science exhibitions and other important events.

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Published: 15 October 2008

Irish Examiner

By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

ONE step backward in order to take two steps forward is how Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe described a raft of spending cuts within his €9.6 billion budget for next year.

While he hoped that the €25,000 salary cut which he and ministerial colleagues are taking will help signal that everyone is sharing the burden, the level of cuts could make that a step too far for many people.

A €600 increase in third-level registration fees to €1,500 next autumn was described by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) as a cynical attempt to bring in fees through the back door without public debate.

Mr O'Keeffe promised that the increases would be reinvested directly in the third level sector, whose 2009 non-capital budget has been cut by €43m to €1.84bn, and that he expects to bring proposals on the possible reintroduction of fees to Cabinet within six months.

School transport charges are also rising significantly, by 80% for children up to Junior Certificate and 28% for older students, to €300 a year.

A €8.5 million saving in adult and further education will mean that 500 places are being axed from the Back to Education Initiative, despite the increasing numbers of jobless people seeking to improve their qualifications. Around one-in-10 of the 1,084 places in Senior Traveller Training Centres will be lost, while additional grants for schools catering for Traveller children have also been cut.

The minister's €581m school building budget is €5m less than this year's allocation but he said the department should complete more projects than before in 2009, with tenders currently coming in between 15% and 20% cheaper than at the height of the building boom.

Mr O'Keeffe said he expects to provide an extra 50 staff to the National Educational Psychological Service next year out of an extra €10 million being allocated for pupils with special needs. Grants for school running costs will rise by 12% to €200 per pupil at primary level, and by 4% to €345 per pupil at second level, with an additional €8 per pupil for voluntary secondary schools.

• 400 teaching jobs axed.
• College registration fees up 66% to €1,500, student grants frozen.
• School bus fees rise to €300 (80% increase for some children).
• Leaving and Junior Certificate fees up 8% to €109 and €103.
• A total of 500 fewer places under the Back to Education Initiative.
• No payment to schools for substitute teachers to cover uncertified sick leave.

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Published: 15 October 2008

Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release

'Soft option' education cutbacks attack economic recovery and frontline services - Hayes

Today's Budget cutbacks in Education are 'soft option' politics that will make a bad situation worse by causing more overcrowded classrooms and harming frontline services while at the same time critically damaging Ireland's ability to economically recover according to Fine Gael Education Spokesman, Brian Hayes TD.

Deputy Hayes said that Education has effectively suffered a cutback with the increase in current spending of 2.7%, half the rate of inflation which stands at 4.5%

"Leadership was needed today but instead we received cowardly 'soft option' politics from Batt O'Keeffe and Brian Lenihan.

"Investment in education is a key requisite in Ireland's ability to economically recover and, by cutting back on already strained resources, the Fianna Fáil Government has endangered future prosperity. Ireland is already playing catch-up in terms of education investment and frontline services are stretched to breaking point. Today, a bad situation was made worse with:

- An effective cutback in current spending with the 2.7% increase in current spending half the rate of rising prices with inflation at 4.5%;
- Bigger classrooms: The Government has restricted the amount of substitute teachers that can be hired and has increased the staffing schedule by one point. Ireland was already heading toward having the most overcrowded classrooms in Europe, now classrooms will be even more overcrowded;
- College fees by the backdoor. Registration fee for third level up to €1,500.

"Last week, Fine Gael outlined 'tough but fair' Budget proposals that would see frontline services protected and the groundwork laid for economic recovery. Tough decisions had to be made but these should not have put at risk future prosperity nor replicated the mistakes made in the past by Fianna Fáil Governments. Instead of following the Fine Gael plan, Fianna Fáil have made a bad situation worse by harming frontline services and not protecting future prosperity.

"Batt O'Keeffe has failed at the Cabinet table and must now:

1. Immediately declare what parts of the Programme for Government (PfG) have been cancelled. The PfG is dead we need a new programme to see the priorities for the next three yrs;
2. Outline what can be achieved over next 18 months in terms of education spending;
3. Absolutely safeguard existing frontline services.

"The 'Yes Man' in the Cabinet, Batt O'Keeffe, has already run from public scrutiny by refusing to hold a press conference. Instead of continuing to hide, he must address the Dáil immediately to outline just how these cutbacks will affect education."

..................................................................
Leinster House Contact: Brian Hayes TD
Dublin 2 Mike Miley Education & Science
Ireland (01) 618 4254
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Published: 15 October 2008

Irish Times

by: Caroline Madden

MY BUDGET: TEACHER: "WE WERE promised so much and those promises have been broken," said primary school teacher Nicola Higgins yesterday. "I think teachers will be very angry with what's happened. It looks, by all accounts, like the front line of the education service has been slashed."

Ms Higgins was referring to the revelation in the Budget that class sizes are set to increase next year, and that a ceiling of two English-language support teachers per school will be imposed. A number of other education-related cuts were also announced.

The impact for Ms Higgins's school - St Colmcille's Junior School in Knocklyon - is that they will lose a teacher next year. This in turn will push up class sizes for the remaining teachers.

"That's the first time that's happened since the '80s," she pointed out.

"It really is devastating because teachers and parents alike have been campaigning for years for smaller classes, and the Government have made a complete U-turn on the promise to reduce class sizes. It's gone. It's non-existent."

These cuts will make her job much more difficult now. She has to implement new practices, and with a larger class to teach, this will be much harder.

On top of that, funding for resource teachers and for children from the Travelling community has been cut, she added.

"On a really personal note we've put a big effort into funding a new library in our school and that funding has been cut as well, so we'll have to pay for that ourselves," she said.

"We're just going to find ways and means to fund these things."

The income levy announced in the Budget will also make her life more difficult. "Everything's going up, and basically with that tax increase we're taking a pay cut," she said.

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