Teachers need more time for ‘activities and planning’

TEACHERS must be given more time for planning and other activities outside the classroom if schools are to improve their service to students, a school managers’ leader said yesterday.

Sr Marie Céline Clegg, president of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS), said the Department of Education must acknowledge the work done by staff outside of teaching time.

In her address to the ACCS annual convention, attended by Education Minister Mary Hanafin, Sr Clegg said second-level education was notorious for the lack of formal time allocation for what the Department considers to be of major significance.