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Not all Pupils receiving 28 hours a week teaching hours
Posted by SchoolDays Newshound on 14/01/2014.
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Tags: Education And PoliticsAccording to a report in the Irish Independent today, the education cutbacks have resulted in some schools struggling to deliver the minimum 28 hours a week of classroom teaching. The problem has come to light in a number of Whole School Evaluation (WSE) reports which are published by the Departments Inspectors.
Examples highlighted are the WSE report on the 425-pupil Colaiste Cois Life, Lucan where the inspectors reported that pupils were being left short one-and-a-half hours a week. At Meanscoil Iognaid Ris, Longmile Road, Dublin, inspectors highlighted that instruction time was short of the minimum 28 hours and in the 525-pupil Salesian Secondary School, in Pallaskenry, Limerick, it was noted that the school counted a 15-minute weekly session between class tutors and pupils as part of its 28 hours
However, the majority of schools do provide the required 28 hours a week, and with some schools offering more than 28 hours.
The Independent reports that the Department is planning a detailed analysis of practice across schools of different types and sizes, to see where and why there is a deviation.
SchoolDays
(14-01-2014 16:24)
Press Release from ASTI 14/1/14
Todays newspaper report which shows that some second-level schools are struggling to provide the required student tuition time due to the education cutbacks comes as no surprise to the ASTI, ASTI General Secretary Pat King said today.
Our own research shows that 98 per cent of second-level schools have lost an average of two fulltime subject teachers since the onset of the education cutbacks in 2009. This is in addition to the loss of specialist teachers and reductions in school funding. Todays report shows the excruciatingly difficult decisions schools are having to make in order to deliver what they believe to be the best possible education for their pupils, said Mr King
ASTI research confirms that in recent years second-level schools have dropped subjects from the curriculum, increased class sizes and reduced the number of classes for certain subjects.
For each teacher that a school has lost as a result of cutbacks, that teachers 33 class periods have had to be distributed across the remaining teachers in the school. For each of those class periods, up to 30 students have had to be relocated or, as todays report reveals, in some instances have had their tuition time reduced. No school should be forced to choose between maintaining student tuition time and ensuring class sizes are manageable and facilitate learning. Both are equally important to the quality of education in our schools, concluded Mr King.