Budget cut will put young teacher on the dole

A YOUNG teacher has slammed the Government over a budget cut that will force her and around 60 others to join the dole queue this summer to save just €1 million a year.

Jenny Ward has only joined the teacher supply panel in the Finglas area of north Dublin this year, but her job faces the axe with around 60 others this summer. The panels serve 212 primary schools in around a dozen rural and disadvantaged areas, giving them access at short notice to a qualified substitute teacher when a staff member is on certified sick leave. The scheme is being ended by the Department of Education, which claims it is not cost effective because the teachers employed to cover certified absences of teachers are not always working.

But Ms Ward said members of the panel work practically every day of the school year, supporting schools they are attached to with learning support and other services if they are not needed as a substitute.