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THE IRISH NATIONAL Teachers’ Organisation has called for reduced class sizes, a “general increase in salaries for teachers, as well as “urgent action” to address the “unhealthy work-life balance” in the profession.
The INTO is currently holding it’s Annual Congress in Killarney, which was address by Education Minister Norma Foley earlier this morning.
It is seeking a “general increase in salaries for teachers to protect their incomes from rising living costs”.
The organisation is also calling for a two-point reduction in average class sizes in each of the next two budgets.
INTO president John Driscoll said the organisation has ben working “tirelessly to address Ireland’s supersized classes” which he described as a “national shame”.
Driscoll added that class sizes in Ireland places the country at the “bottom of the EU league tables”.
While he welcomed “efforts to secure a one-point reduction in each of the last three years”, he called for the government to be “far more ambitious”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Education Minister Norma Foley said that she “acknowledges that there are challenges in education”.
However, in relation to class sizes, she said: “I think it’s quite remarkable to note that over the past three budgets over which I have presided, unprecedented in the history of education, we have successfully reduced the pupil teacher ratio to 23 to one.”
She added that class sizes are “now at an historic low”.
The INTO is also calling for action to “ease excessive workload burden”.
Earlier this year, the INTO published a report that found nine in 10 primary teachers are struggling with their workload, while principals work an additional 600 hours a year outside school time.
The INTO has also called for full substitute cover for approved teacher absences.
Such absences include family illness leave, self-certified sick leave and Extra Personal Vacation days, for all primary and special schools.
While the INTO welcomed the establishment of the teacher supply panel scheme, it has called for the scheme to be expanded to cover all primary schools.
For the current school year, there are 151 supply panels currently covering 2,850 schools with 610 teaching posts allocated.
Speaking on the News at One, Minister Foley said she is “reviewing the panel system, streamlining them to make them more effective and attractive”.
Supply panels are intended to ensure there is a ready supply of substitute teachers to primary schools in their local area.
However, over 60% of posts on teacher supply panels in Dublin are vacant.
Minister Foley noted that there is a “significant challenge in Dublin” and added: “We are currently looking at how we can support the panels in Dublin change or tweak or add new incentives to those panels.”
Each panel serves a cluster of schools, and Minister Foley said the Department has reduced the size of clusters in Dublin from five schools to two or three schools.
She added that the Department is “open and flexible to look at a whole variety of measures”.
Minister Foley also said that “teaching remains a very stable profession” and noted that “over the last two years we have seen almost a 20% increase in terms of application by the CAO for some teaching-training positions”.
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Unhealthy work life balance ?? Teachers get three months paid holidays a year..
@Ciaran: 12 month salary divided over 9 months*
@Ciaran: Got that arseways
@C: indeed you did.. break down a teachers salary then per hours actually worked .. very few secondary teachers “work” 40 hours a week.. it’s still actually decent..
@Ciaran: then why not become one?
@C: Myth.
@Ciaran: If it is so good, why is there a shortage?
@Ciaran: They can also work another full time job for their 3 months summer holidays and many do.
@Redseat92: I don’t know a single teacher who works another job during the summer. Sure the earnings would be taxed to the heavens. Unless you’re referring to teachers who invigilate or correct state exams?
@Tadhg: I know a few..as the saying goes..if your paying tax your earning money.
@Ciaran: INTO members are literally on a two week holiday right now
Unhealthy life balance!! No other full time job in the economy offers as much time off.
These people are completely deluded and in a bubble away from the real world the rest of us live in.
@shuttleJohn: did u not get the same CAO form to fill out as the rest of us rocketman….. back with ya ta college if u think it’s that great if a gig!
@Niall Gannon: Because perhaps he chose not to become a teacher after listening to the incessant whinging from Teachers..I chose not to become a teacher and have a job that I researched beforehand and like it..If I didn’t like it I would leave and get another job.
@Redseat92: emm I do be thinking he is the one whinging!!! Glad you’re happy in your job though
@Redseat92: Well said
@Redseat92: That’s the point: teachers are leaving, in droves, either for new jobs or to work in education systems where they are valued, & not constantly battling the holidays argument. The level of paper work & extra demands over & above the actual teaching & learning are seriously impacting the quality of what can realistically be delivered. There are only so many hours in the day, & everything over & above can’t be left to mid-terms.
@Redseat92: you’re a really hero an stand up person….what a wonderful comment from someone with your obvious exceptional brain. They’ll definitely be speaking about how wonderful and how much of a influence you were in your community. Or will they?
I’m sure you’re local teacher helps with your local football hurling soccer camogie clubs drama groups …… go out to fund raise bag packing and all around helping kids on a voluntary basis. But if you would rather they didn’t I think comments like this are eroding good will of our professional educators.
@Jim Casey: The vast majority of people involved in Coaching in my area have full time jobs.9 to 5 or 6 and more,a week off at Christmas,maybe a couple of weeks holiday in the summer.Whats your point..?
@Redseat92: if you can’t get my point then it’s lost on you……..VOLUNTARY WORK
@Jim Casey: Maybe I should have made it clearer for you..The vast majority of voluntary coaches in my area.
@Redseat92: so that’s your area
A work life balance?? Is there anyone in the real world in that union at all. They seem to just want to make the general population hate the teachers. I heard yesterday they wanted pay increase due to cost of living, must have been a red rag to a bull for those working 40-50 hours a week on minimum wage!
@Dramafree 2023: everyone working full time deserves earning a living wage. Why pitch teachers against min wage workers? Your point is complete nonsense. They all deserve an increase.
@Tadhg: because despite what appears to be their belief, they dont live in a bubble, there are people worse off than them, they do have a good if not the best work life balance and someone working almost double the hours on almost half the wage is a good example of that. Why do you have an issue with me looking outside the teachers world for an example. I dont believe teachers need a raise. They have come off very badly through out and since the pandemic like they were the sole profession affected. not once has it been noted by the union speeches that they got full pay while off during pandemic, with no expectations etc. Anyone else whos employment was closed was put on the pandemic payment.
A lot of Irish people (especially older/middle aged) people REALLY hate teachers & have a bias against them because they had horrible experiences in school, back when, yanno, it was OK to beat children. However, education is not like that now. Teachers have great, extensive training and kids are treated so much more fairly and are protected. Having these grudges against teachers because they were awful back in the 60′s doesn’t mean you can outright want all of them now to not get treated well. Teachers nowadays (especially younger ones) don’t have permanent contracts, have to do a huge amount of work during the holidays and the summer holidays are spent interviewing for other jobs in case they don’t get kept on. Plus, a starting teachers salary is just not enough to rent a room these days.
@Sylvia Power:if you are a teacher teaching only one subject, you probably have 6-8hours of classes a week of actual teaching. Obviously there is lesson prep but that sorts itself out with the set curriculum which is repeated year after year and also there is correcting homework. So what is the “huge” amount of work done during the holidays ?
@Ciaran: full time in teaching is 22 hours of “actual teaching”. Any teacher that has a contract for 6-8 hours of “actual teaching” would be getting paid on a pro-rata basis. During school holidays some teachers do lesson prep, correct tests, go on school tours etc.
@Ciaran: syllabus for English changes frequently
@Fiona Glynn: Teachers starting salary is a little over €40k per annum. If they are teaching 22 hours that leaves them 17 hours prep time and correction time per week to bring them up to a 39 hour week which is a pretty average working week. When they go on school tours etc they are paid, those make up part of their 39 hour working week. There’s no way to spin it, there’s no other full time job where you get the amount of time off they do with that decent a starting salary. Teachers are a vital part of our society however they simply don’t have it that bad by comparison to other jobs, they have it better than most.
@Ciaran: No, lesson prep doesn’t just “sort itself out”. You have no idea of the massive amount of work involved. I used to work with teachers, and they have huge amounts of prep, post-class assessments, self-assessments, curriculum plans, yearly plans, lessons plans, examination prep (in-house and national exams), as well as correcting, feedback AND having to be involved with extra-curricular activities, extra behavioural/intellectual disability work & training. Many teachers also don’t make enough money & have to do grinds or another job during the summer. Also, the vast majority of teachers teach more than one subject. So please, would you actually learn about the job conditions you’re criticising before posting rubbish with total confidence.
@Sylvia Power: I’m sure most of these individuals have at least a moderate level of intelligence and researched Teaching before choosing it as a career..If it’s such a terrible job with only 5 to 6 months holiday a year,very short working days and a relatively high salary maybe they should have picked something else..?
@Sylvia Power: welcome to the real world.
@Louise Fleming: why oh why is there a shortage of them then ………
@Jim Casey: Because a lot of them are in the middle east, Australia earning huge money.Should we pay Teachers here the same..? Should I go into the boss in the morning and demand triple my wages as that what my Australian counterpart earns..? Should my Vietnamese counterpart demand 10 times their wages as that what they get in Ireland.
@Redseat92: ask your boss he/she might realise that you’re just amazing. Post 2011 pay gap push Irish teachers out of here. You know it too. Take home pay after tax usc wodows and orphans and all the other fempi cuts are still taken out of salaries. If you’re a teacher a gardai nurse living in Dublin…….it is not a great salary.
Seriously you should ask your boss you might have a chance to negotiate and at least you can if youre in the private sector or industry……. teachers have to put up and take what they get!!!!!!!!!!
@Michael Creagh: You should join a union and then you could fight for better conditions, like the teachers are doing now
@Jim Casey: because the real issue is that full time jobs are not being offered only 6/8/10 hour contracts that pay by the hour and they’re then unemployed come the end of the academic year and left in limbo about whether they’ll get hours come September. I could get behind looking for more permanent positions and getting rid of these stupid contracts that nobody wants to take and I don’t blame them. That’s what they should be fighting for, more full time teachers and stop with this nonsense.
@Louise Fleming: absolutely agree that full time contracts need to be given. But also there is a high cost of living in the state and yes I think if you don’t pay equatible salaries to public sector workers you won’t get them or at least quality one’s.
As I said people in the private sector on here talk about holidays and teacher’s are find and how dare they. But a teacher can’t ask for a pay rise. There is zero opportunity for promotion for the vast majority of teacher’s.
There’s no incentive to be the best teacher possible for new teachers as all the hear and see are people like those on this awful site giving out about teacher’s. So we get unmotivated one’s
Not enough teachers, not enough schools, not enough housing, not enough doctors and not enough hospital beds. Not even enough driving testers. There’s a lack of pretty much everything in this country at the moment.
Teaching is a hard job and for the money, especially on the beginner level, I don’t see it being an attractive career. No benefits either. Government jobs used to be good, but in current economic situation those wages are not that good and progression is slow, you will always get more working in a private sector. Teachers should be paid more to attract talent, it’s an important job.
@Save Rainforest: No benefits? A teacher’s pension on retirement would cost €1m+ to buy privately? Also when you become permanent, which is is inevitable after you gain panel rights, you have incredible job security – it is nearly impossible to get fired.
@Damien: why did you get fired from your job? How did that make you feel? Bitter? Thars why you’re spouting on about teacher’s pensions and making assumptions.
No promotion opportunities for 90% of professionals. Can’t asked for a pay rise….unlike people who work in the private sector or industry.
@Save Rainforest: i think the pension benefit is good in the public service but the pay rates arent that great in comparison to private sector jobs. Like any job really swings & roundabouts. I do think that teachers, gardai & most public service jobs like that, where youre dealing with humans, have thankless jobs. Theyre damned if they do and damned if they don’t kind of thing.
Work life balance…? Almost a 50 50 split between holidays and work..Can’t get anymore balanced than that with the highest pay in Europe and the shortest working day in Europe.
Won’t be long before they call for working from home.
@ChadChaderson: If we learned nothing from the pandemic, it is most teachers do not want to work from home!!!
Delusional Union…plenty of my cousins are teachers and are very content…golfing all this week while the rest of us work…stop whinging ffs you chose your career knowing the conditions I would hope.get on with it we are all suffering with the cost of living
@Derek O Gorman: stop whinging about the cost of living and get on with it ffs
@Jim Casey: couldn’t put a constructive intelligent comment up no….
@Derek O Gorman: you think your comment was interesting constructive or intelligent……..I was meeting you at your level
@Jim Casey: I wasn’t whinging about the cost of living so not sure what you are talking about
@Derek O Gorman: you were plabbling on about some cost of something….. whinging much.
@Jim Casey: you’re the one pabbling on like a child…you should join their union youd fit right in with your childish nonsense..you can have the last word here as no doubt you will come back with some teenage crap..from reading over your previous interactions with other people you’re not playing with the full deck so I won’t waste anymore time on you…Good man yourself
Are they having a laugh?
When teachers get a very good salary, while working 180 days a year, the poor things still complain about work life balance. Try the private sector you spoilt, pampered br ats.
@Gerry Lamont: wow you’ve cracked it that’s what’s wrong ……. spoiled br at teachers …… you’re top of the class.
@Gerry Lamont: So we should lower the bar so you can slither over it? no thanks
Typical journal. Cherry picks some minor issue at the conference then blows it up to trigger anti-teacher sentiment. Didnt see many articles about the crises in recruitment and teacher shortages which has been raised everywhere else in recent weeks. That is the main issue been addressed at the conference.
It’s hard to have much sympathy for someone who gets close on 4 months paid holiday per year, rolls into work at 8.50am and rallies out the gate no later than 4pm, nah I think they’d be better keeping the head down and say fcuk all.
After reading the article during the week about a mother of two school-going kids and the stress of getting through homework, heavy schoolbags, and spending their evenings and weekends on schoolwork, I had hoped that this was about a better work/life balance for the kids. Teachers never stop crying out for better conditions for themselves, you don’t hear much about them wanting a better environment for their students.
Maybe another paid holiday per year.
‘A historic’ not ‘an historic’ Diarmuid!
@An tUas Mac: there’s an awful lot of that about; that and “AN hotel”. That master of proper pronouncition, Fergil Bowrz, comes out with such utterances at least tree times a night. His salary should be reduced by a turd every time dat dis happens. Dat might learn him.
@An tUas Mac: there’s an awful lot of that about; that and “AN hotel”. That master of proper pronouncition, Fergil Bowrz, comes out with such utterances at least tree times a night. His salary should be reduced by a turd every time dat dis happens. Dat might learn him
the only infrstructures that work are those where the people have the power. Sad that so many flatheads would like to see everyone worse off.
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