what cuts lie ahead

newfrontier · 06-09-2014 12:54am #1

Interesting analysis of the cuts the ed sector has taken recently and where your money has gone
http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2013/Documents/Expenditure%20Report%202013%20Part%20I.pdf

Now you can see what lies ahead but how this will happen on the ground ?

2011abc · 06-09-2014 9:46am

Interesting is a subjective term here .Its a wall of statistics and we know all about them .Id appreciate the TLDR version frankly .

I DID get a wry smile from

"Taken in the round , therefore , Ireland has delivered-and continues to deliver- an expenditure consolidation that is at the forefront of what has been achieved anywhere across the OECD "

I take that to mean we've taken a big one for the bondholders and will continue to do so 'going forward' .I think Id happily smack the person who wrote that in the face right now.

Oh, and I presume 'expenditure consolidation ' is the 'best practice'-speak equivalent of "CUT"

You know even in their most citizen bamboozling chicanery its not always that hard to see through the lies and deception .

Or are my ignorant ,anarchist tendencies blinding me to the good news within?

In reply to your question we will do what England did .Drive out experienced teachers because theyre so slow to adopt 'progress' and 2-3 times dearer 'per unit' than a more pliable NQT .Increase workload to and beyond breaking point while halving sick leave and pushing retirement age decades further away .Introducing mountains of paperwork and statistics to facilitate 'payment by results' and 'league tables' which will increase the ghetto-isation of DEIS schools (although we'll SAY that we're supporting them !) (Just like we'll SAY we care about mental health while the number of TEACHERS starting to commit suicide begins to catch up with their students ) Teachers of course will end up supervising even cheaper 'Teaching Assistants ' who will replace them in the classroom .And when the whole sorry mess is about to implode we will privatise the lot and sell it to whichever billionaire is funding the party and its hierarchy at that point .

acequion · 06-09-2014 7:59pm

2011abc wrote: »

Interesting is a subjective term here .Its a wall of statistics and we know all about them .Id appreciate the TLDR version frankly .

I DID get a wry smile from

"Taken in the round , therefore , Ireland has delivered-and continues to deliver- an expenditure consolidation that is at the forefront of what has been achieved anywhere across the OECD "

I take that to mean we've taken a big one for the bondholders and will continue to do so 'going forward' .I think Id happily smack the person who wrote that in the face right now.

Oh, and I presume 'expenditure consolidation ' is the 'best practice'-speak equivalent of "CUT"

You know even in their most citizen bamboozling chicanery its not always that hard to see through the lies and deception .

Or are my ignorant ,anarchist tendencies blinding me to the good news within?

In reply to your question we will do what England did .Drive out experienced teachers because theyre so slow to adopt 'progress' and 2-3 times dearer 'per unit' than a more pliable NQT .Increase workload to and beyond breaking point while halving sick leave and pushing retirement age decades further away .Introducing mountains of paperwork and statistics to facilitate 'payment by results' and 'league tables' which will increase the ghetto-isation of DEIS schools (although we'll SAY that we're supporting them !) (Just like we'll SAY we care about mental health while the number of TEACHERS starting to commit suicide begins to catch up with their students ) Teachers of course will end up supervising even cheaper 'Teaching Assistants ' who will replace them in the classroom .And when the whole sorry mess is about to implode we will privatise the lot and sell it to whichever billionaire is funding the party and its hierarchy at that point .

I share your sentiments,if not your predictions. The fact is that we don't really know what lies in store. What you say may come to pass,but then again it may not. There's no point in frightening already over anxious teachers with prophecies of such apocalyptic doom and gloom.

I'm not having a go at you,2011abc,because I generally agree with your posts and I,too,would be pretty radical. But,we work in an innately conservative profession where no one will listen to a radical,more's the pity.

If we could get rid of the current union leadership and the very right wing Government,we'd have some chance of steadying the ship for teachers. But that's up to each one of us. If enough people get involved in the union pro actively,as ASTI fightback have done,then we have a real chance of getting rid of the dead meat outrageously fattened by our money, and making the union work for us. Ditto for political parties. Fine Gael were never a party to help Public Service workers,so what's to stop each of us campaigning to get them out!

Teachers also need to help themselves and stop biting at the bit to do more than their job. In the current climate,with constant persecution of teachers [see today's article in the Indo on performance reviews of individual teachers], I cannot understand teachers who have that elusive job security signing up for extra curriculars. If this individual performance review malarky does come in,the teacher who doesn't do extra will be made to look bad if such is a minority in any given school, and I defy anyone to claim otherwise!

So,the future is literally in our own hands.

2011abc · 06-09-2014 9:35pm

Sadly it's happened in England and we've aped every other stupid thing they've done .Being 'on site ' from ( at least!!!!) before 8am to after 6pm is the norm over there .And you do more work when you get home ....And LOTS more over all holidays except Summer . Certainly in our place( in Ireland) 830-5/530 is common for most NQTs ( need to be seen to be seen...) Seriously sinister stuff going on in UK education these days ..."Academies" turn state schools into private schools run by PLCs practically overnight and teachers contracts torn up . Who would have ever thought the previously reviled OFSTED would have been the lesser of two evils ?
I happened to be near a previously religious 'patronised' school that was 'academised' overnight (seriously ,this happens in well under a school year ) .It had a major building ' renovation 'of the site and I'd swear it was the ugliest thing I ever saw in my life .Literally a dark grey windowless box . And all they care about is increasing the average of students who get a grade C or higher FULL STOP .Nothing else matters .Tragic.

gaiscioch · 06-09-2014 10:55pm

acequion wrote: »

I'm not having a go at you,2011abc,because I generally agree with your posts and I,too,would be pretty radical. But,we work in an innately conservative profession where no one will listen to a radical,more's the pity.

The irony being that the "conservatives" are accepting radical changes to the profession while the "radicals" want (or, rather, wanted) to conserve existing conditions.

acequion · 07-09-2014 12:31am

gaiscioch wrote: »

The irony being that the "conservatives" are accepting radical changes to the profession while the "radicals" want (or, rather, wanted) to conserve existing conditions.

Yes,very true gaiscioch. I actually hadn't thought of it like that.But a lot of "conservatives" are just plain scared and won't stick their necks out or disobey orders. It's the herd mentality. So the radicals have to stick their necks out and be bold. I wouldn't put it in past tense either as there's still a lot coming down the tracks to resist.

what cuts lie ahead

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