Disadvantaged schools set to lose 400 teachers

SCHOOLS in disadvantaged areas are to lose more than 400 teachers as a result of the cuts buried in Budget 2012.

In a range of measures that avoided cuts to class sizes across all the country’s 3,300 primary schools, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is axing almost 430 teaching posts schools were allowed keep from previous schemes after a unified programme to tackle disadvantage started in 2005.

These so-called legacy posts are in 270 primary schools and include more than 40 support teachers who gave counselling and dealt with extreme behaviour.