INTO statement on the budget

Trotter

It seems that the minister has really made some profound "decisions" which are summed up on the INTO website as follows

INTO Outraged by Budget Cuts
INTO General Secretary condemns increase in class size.

The INTO has learned that the Budget measures announced by the Minister for Education and Science include the following:

* Class size is to be increased from 27 to 28 from 1 September 2009.
* A ceiling of two English language support teachers per school is to be reimposed from 1 September 2009.
* There will be 200 fewer primary teachers employed next September than this September despite increased pupil population.
* Concessionary posts in previously designated disadvantaged schools not in the DEIS scheme will be suppressed.
* From 1 January 2009 there will be no substitute cover for uncertified sick leave.
* The early retirement strands for teachers are suspended immediately.
* The capitation grant is increased by €21 and ancillary grant by €3.50.
* All equipment and resource grants for resource teachers are abolished.
* €4.3m has been slashed from Traveller capitation.
* €7.5m has been taken off aid for books in DEIS schools.
* €2.1m is gone from school library grants.
* The grant for the Centre for Talented Youth has been withdrawn.
* Implementation of the EPSEN Act 2004 has been deferred.

INTO General Secretary, John Carr, said this is “a direct attack by Government on the children of the nation”. He roundly condemned what he said was “an attempt to penalise children for the financial mismanagement of the economy” and said that “these drastic cuts make a mockery of any aspiration to a knowledge economy”.

It seems to me like some very unethical decisions have been made. What use were all of those parent and teacher INTO meetings on class sizes prior to the general election? The figures are going in the opposite direction.

Amazing.. Ireland, land of saints and scholars.

I'm here planning a hands on science lesson where I'm going to try and teach 30 children a specific topic. HOW.. are we supposed to do that really well with that many children of various language and learning abilities, while keeping within curricular time constraints.

Also.. If uncertified sick leave isn't to be covered by a sub, does that mean that the first day of a certified sick leave won't be covered either? By the time a sick teacher gets a cert on day one, the class will have been left without cover for a day. This just doesn't seem practical.

I hope the INTO really show teeth on this and make a stand against what seems to be a preference of the construction industry over our children.

End Rant.
Slán

oliviah

I'm in shock, despite being prepared for some cuts. I'm secondary, long term subber, and a lot of my work for the past few years has been in resource/traveller ed/language support.

Those students will just fall by the wayside, as teachers won't have the time to give them the support they need.

If it's true about the sick cover I might as well get the boat now as unqualified buddies of the principals in my area get work before us mere qualifed mortals, so if it even halves I'll be without any income.

Trotter

Pupil teacher ratio in primary will push a lot of teachers either out or onto the panels.

I'm sick of the battles we have to fight just to do a job. We break our hearts trying to do the best for the children and this is what we get.

sitstill

Some of that is absolutely ridiculous.... does much of it apply to secondary level too?

littlebsci

sitstill wrote: »

Some of that is absolutely ridiculous.... does much of it apply to secondary level too?

I believe plenty of principals have already told staff that they're likely to lose a given number of teachers next September-nothing mentioned in my school (secondary) yet but we'll see I suppose.

Have to admit I find the whole thing is giving my a knot of sheer annoyance in the pit of my stomach. What was the point of spending years trying to advance the education system in this country if they're just going to effectively wipe a lot of it out in in foul blow!?!

I completely agree with Trotter's point about getting the first day of certified sick leave covered.....this is going to be fun come January. On that note, those of us who signed up for the supervision and substitution scheme are definitely going to earn our money from now on eh? Not that I'm complaining seeing as how we're getting paid (before someone gives out to me!). But I wonder how are they going to manage when we have completed our contracted hours? Will we be back to the days of splitting up classes and putting them into other teachers rooms?? I remember this happening when I was in school and although it worked pretty well where I was.....in many schools (these days especially) that's going to be a nightmare.

Then there's the issue of the grants being removed.....so we're still expected to carry out the same amount of practical work and therefore require the same amount of equipment, ingredients, materials etc but with way less money! Seriously, the capitation grant increase isn't going to go into the practical subjects to make up for their loss so where's the money supposed to come from? Perhaps if the dept had spent more wisely in recent years we might not find ourselves in this situation now. By that I mean throwing money at the latest technology available in certain areas so that schools (many, not all) have some pretty expensive equipment sitting in boxes not being used because (a) better stuff is available now or (b) it's simply easier to do things the old fashioned way!

And then as someone who is not on a CID (or a contract that could lead to one for that matter) it's also quite worrying, perhaps a tad dramatic, but I would seriously be worried about looking for a job when my contract ends. I certainly hope that I won't find myself in a situation where I have to look elsewhere for employment.

Rant......over!

kittex

* From 1 January 2009 there will be no substitute cover for uncertified sick leave.

I can see this leading to a lot of bullying and stress for teachers as they are seen as causing problems when they have a couple of days off with colds/flus etc.

* The early retirement strands for teachers are suspended immediately.

This should have been subject to Union negotiations - does this not go against existing agreements?

* All equipment and resource grants for resource teachers are abolished.

Is this not actually illegal? Under EU and inclusion rules, if a child needs something to aid their education, the school/government is obliged to take steps to get it and offer the child an equal opportunity at school.

Oh but hang on...

* Implementation of the EPSEN Act 2004 has been deferred.

Parents of SEN children should start court action on this. SEN children are already poorly serviced. My brother has dyspraxia and is being turned down by schools. In the UK they'd fight for him as SEN brings whatever funding the child needs to the school.


So, thanks to the new budget, only the well off kids, whose parents can afford grinds will prosper. Ireland is moving so quickly towards creating a real class system, it's a disgrace. I'm so glad I stopped looking for work back home.