ASTI - Ireland's main second level teachers union

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-       Irish schools embracing inclusivity despite cuts to resources

 

 

The publication today of the OECD report Education at a Glance 2011 once again confirms that even at the height of the economic boom, Ireland’s education service was under-resourced.

 

The report shows Ireland ranking 19^th out of 31 countries in terms of investment in education as a proportion of GDP. These figures relate to 2008 – before the introduction of the education cuts which have had such a detrimental impact on second-level schools. 

 

“Today’s report reaffirms that there really is no room for further cuts in education. Schools were already operating on a shoestring before the recent savage education cuts were implemented,” ASTI General Secretary Pat King said today.

 

Education at a Glance 2011 underlines the importance of education to economic development and social cohesion. “It is not possible to have the two conflicting goals of cuts to our under-resourced education service and sustainable economic recovery,” said Pat King. “The Government must decide which goal it is going to pursue.”

 

Irish second-level schools embracing social inclusion

Irish schools are helping to achieve equality of opportunity for their students. This is evident in the high student retention rate at second-level. In Ireland 91% of students complete second-level compared with an OECD average of 82%. This high retention rate has impacted positively on progression to third level. Completing second and third-level education is directly linked to employment status and lifetime earnings.  

 

Ireland also scores well in terms of the ability of schools to mitigate the negative impact of socio-economic status on students’ reading performance.

 

Teachers’ salaries

Education at a Glance 2011 warns that in some countries the salaries of teachers and their relation to GDP may have significantly changed since the information was compiled by the OECD, as a result of the financial crisis. This is true for Ireland.

 

The figures for Ireland contained in today’s report refer to 2008 and do not include public sector pay cuts. Teachers have seen their income drop by more than 14% as a result of the pay cut and pension levy applied to public sector workers. In addition, teachers’ pay has been affected by other tax and levy changes.

 

New teachers

The actual pay for new teachers in Ireland is significantly lower than the figure which appears in today’s report.

 

“To put it simply, these figures are not where things are at now,” said Pat King.

 

Teachers delivering value

Despite cuts to pay and resources and larger class sizes, Irish teachers are delivering more teaching hours than most other OECD countries. The average annual number of teaching hours at second-level  is 679 compared to 735 hours in Ireland. The report does not include the work carried out by Irish second-level teachers outside of the classroom. Such work includes administrative and planning duties as well as organising a wide range extra-curricular activities, something which Irish second-level teachers are renowned for.

 

 

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