In Dublin, the annual conference of the Teachers' Union of Ireland has been told that the Government stands by its ban on school league tables, which list schools in order of the results they achieve. The Minister of State at the Department of Science and Technology, Willie O'Dea, told delegates that league tables just don't work.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation has warned that the country's 3,200 primary schools could be closed by industrial action in June unless agreement is reached on resolving the problems faced by teaching principals. At the union's annual conference in Galway its general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, said that the deal could cost the Exchequer up to eleven million pounds to implement.
However, school principals were adamant that it would have to be implemented. For the first time this morning the INTO put a cost on the deal it is seeking for the 2,000 school principals who are involved in both teaching and running primary schools. At present, a principal is relieved of teaching duties when a school has nine teachers. The INTO now wants this to be reduced to five teacher schools.
It says that this would involve the appointment of 300 or 400 more teachers and would cost about £8 million. In addition it wants a further £3 million spent on providing smaller schools with administrative and clerical back up for one day a week - where numbers would not allow for the appointment of a fulltime administrative principal.
According to Senator Joe O'Toole, it is impossible for principals to function as both teachers and administrators in larger primary schools. He said that the INTO will take industrial action in June unless the Government is prepared to agree to the package it is proposing.
