Teachers critical of retirement age change

THE majority of teachers will now have to spend more than 40 years in over-crowded classrooms because of changes to the retirement age in the budget, unions claimed last night.

Teachers were also critical of the Government's failure to address the basic requirements of children with special needs.

Despite allocating an extra 30 million to school building programmes and improving grants to help schools meet their day-to-day running costs, Budget 2004 was given a lukewarm welcome. Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland president Pat Cahill said legislation such as the imminent Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill emphasises an inclusive approach to education which provides for children with special educational needs.

However, the Government has failed to provide the resources necessary to enable all schools to be fully inclusive, he said. "Rather than increasing resources to schools to enable them to meet the needs of all students and fulfil their obligations under education legislation, this Government is delivering cutbacks," said Mr Cahill.

The change in the retirement age for new teachers shows "a lack of understanding of teaching at second level" by the Minister for Finance, he added. Under the existing system, teachers can retire at 55 or over, provided they have 30 years service.

"It is widely acknowledged that all the challenges faced by society manifest themselves in the classroom and continually present new problems for teachers.

"To insist that a new entrant to the teaching profession in 2004 must spend 43 years in the classroom before securing pension entitlement represents poor judgement on the part of the Minister and shows how much he has distanced himself from ordinary, everyday realities."

The primary teachers' union, the INTO, welcomed the increase for primary school buildings announced in the budget. This was a priority demand of the INTO due to the appalling state of many school buildings and the fact that as many as 400 schools need major work.

Education and Science Minister, Noel Dempsey welcomed the extra 30m for the primary and post primary school building programme announced in budget 2004. "This extra 30m comes on top of a 13% increase in the primary school building programme in the 2004 estimate. This investment will also ensure that the primary school building programme exceeds 200m for the first time ever," he said.