SCHOOLS ACROSS THE country knew that cuts in English language support teachers were on the way, but were not expecting the number of posts lost to be so high.

The Department of Education has doubled the number of teachers to be cut from schools to 250 in order to comply with the Employment Control Framework, reports RTE. The Framework dictates numbers working in the public sector. The Irish Times reports that the Department says it was a “difficult decision” to make and that the process was speeded up in order to make resources available for students across the whole education system.

The Department of Education says that the language support posts will be transferred to other areas within the education system, particularly to areas devoted to increasing participation rates and tackling early school leaving, and that the cuts in the language support area are necessary because of the embargo on recruitment in the public sector.

Immigrant children in primary schools will be hardest hit by the move, while 250 language support teachers will be out of a job. The INTO has called the cuts “an attack on disadvantaged and marginalised children”.