Subjects facing chop if class sizes rise [Independent.ie]
- Published: 05 August 2011
SCHOOLS will be forced to drop subjects including honours maths and physics if the Government goes ahead with plans to increase class sizes, teacher unions warned yesterday.
The unions said the plans for the classes would wreak "irreparable damage" on children's education.
Under the proposals, the Department of Education estimates savings of €75m can be made by increasing the number of pupils to each teacher from 27 to 28 at primary level and from 19 to 20 at second level.
Some 80pc of the €9bn education budget is made up of teachers' pay and pensions, but this is ring-fenced and cannot be cut under the terms of the Croke Park Agreement.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
????????Teachers angered by the threat of increased class sizes [examiner.ie]
- Published: 05 August 2011
THE threat of increases in class sizes next year has prompted an angry response from teachers and opposition parties.
While reports that the move is under serious consideration have not been confirmed, recent talks between the Department of Education, teacher unions, parent organisations and school management groups to find alternative savings are understood to have made little progress. The department is understood to be considering submissions from almost a dozen education partners, but it is expected that these will not offer savings of the level required by the Department of Finance.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Quinn urged to focus on teacher numbers and abandon exam reform [irishtimes.com]
- Published: 05 August 2011
Quinn urged to focus on teacher numbers and abandon exam reform
SEÁN FLYNN, Education Editor
MINISTER FOR Education Ruairí Quinn should jettison radical plans for exam reform and instead focus on preserving teacher numbers in schools, a teacher union leader has said.
Amid controversy about Government plans to increase class size, Peter MacMenamin of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland said the education system should “effectively tread water” and abandon plans to introduce expensive programmes.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Class Size Dilemma [independent.ie]
- Published: 05 August 2011
Class Size Dilemma
The revelation that the Department of Education is planning to increase class sizes because the Croke Park Agreement means that it cannot cut teachers' pay and conditions presents the trade unions with an dilemma.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Schools will drop subjects if class sizes increased [Independent.ie]
- Published: 04 August 2011
Schools will be forced to drop subjects if proposals to increase class sizes to save money go ahead, it has been warned.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland said the education sector was already seriously underfunded and could not afford further cuts, branding it a nonsense.
Department of Education officials are examining a range of cost-cutting proposals ahead of December's budget aimed at saving €75m, including adding an extra child to each class.
But Pat King, ASTI general secretary, said children would suffer.
"At second level, schools will be forced to drop subjects, that's how it affects second level," Mr King said.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
