Student teachers having to spend €90 a week for class materials and travel

TRAINEE teachers have appealed to the Government to reimburse them the €90 a week they are forced to pay, out of their own pockets, for class materials and travel expenses during their teaching practice.

Figures compiled by the students’ union at the country’s biggest teacher training college show that students are paying an average of €350 out of their own pockets for each work placement in a school during the normal three-year Bachelor of Education degree course. This works out at an average of €87.61 for each of the 16 weeks spent by students of St Patrick’s College in Dublin on teaching practice, or over €1,400 over the full course. The money covers photocopying and laminating, providing classroom resources such as posters, markers, paints, folders and worksheets and, in some cases, travel to and from school.

St Patrick’s Student Union president Shaun Conaghan said the situation would not be tolerated by other professions. “It would be like a nurse having to bring medicine and bandages to work or a trainee garda bring their own handcuffs to work every morning.”