Disadvantaged people ‘hardest hit’ by school cutbacks

TEACHING services for disadvantaged people are to be disproportionately affected by cutbacks, an educational leader has warned.

City and county vocational education committees (VECs) manage around 240 second-level schools, but also administer services such as Youthreach for early school-leavers, adult education services and back-to-education courses.

However, while teachers who retire or leave their posts will be replaced in the next school year, the head of the VECs’ umbrella body said that vacancies in other services are being treated differently.