Union says elitist schools 'evading responsibilities'
Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) general secretary Jim Dorney said it was "galling" to see such schools not living up to their responsibilities.
"We are not prepared to stand idly by and allow others to evade their responsibilities," he said.
The issue was raised at the opening of the TUI conference, in Tralee, where delegates heard that some secondary schools were habitually redirecting students with particular needs to disadvantaged schools.
The 12,500-member TUI mainly represents teachers in community and comprehensive schools and third-level lecturers.
TUI president, Paddy Healy, commended Education Minister Mary Hanafin for criticising elitist schools that didn't meet obligations.
"If schools under religious patronage refuse to heed the injunctions of the Almighty in respect of their duty to the disadvantaged, what are the chances that they will heed the words of the Minister for Education?" he asked.
The conference also received a policy paper calling for immediate action on a number of issues relating to non-national students.
"There is an acute lack of appropriate personnel to support this rapidly expanding student cohort," the paper noted.
It also hit out at ambiguities about the teaching of English as a second language, urging that staff be properly trained and qualified, and called for professional translators to help at parent/teacher meetings and other interactions.
It also looked for more sensitive handling of deportation, maintaining that the authorities had been "heavy-handed and insensitive", resulting in trauma.
Discipline in the classroom could also be a problem, the paper said, for students that came from countries where corporal punishment was used.
"These students are sometimes confused by our child-centred behaviour codes and the level of behaviour they are expected to maintain in the absence of draconian punishment," it remarked.
