‘Less than 20 schools’ set to breach in-service training rules

LESS than 20 schools will be involved in in-service training on the Friday and Monday before the upcoming Hallowe’en mid-term break, Education Minister Mary Hanafin confirmed yesterday.

This is technically in breach of the agreement signed between the Department of Education, the teachers’ union and the Catholic bishops, the minister said. The agreement states that in-service training days should not be held on the week day prior to and after a holiday.

The Catholic bishops insisted yesterday that they were just sticking to the agreement when they instructed their schools to close on the All Saints holy day - November 1. The agreement also provides for three holy days of obligation for Catholics in the school year and this is one of them. But Ms Hanafin said that 95% of schools will comply with the agreement, closing for one week mid-term after school on Friday, October 22.