Teacher decisions ‘not political’

THE decisions on which schools keep some of their language support teachers for newcomer children will not be political, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe insisted last night despite accusations of a U-turn on how staff will be allocated.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said Mr O’Keeffe had made a double U-turn after he told RTÉ News yesterday he would issue a letter to all schools that would “lay down clearly the parameters within which additional teachers will be allocated”, and later saying that the letter would explain the changes.

It is understood his department will not set any criteria on the number of such pupils which must be enrolled for any exemption from the limit for all schools of two language support teachers, announced in the budget last October.