Student numbers limit time to teach
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the institutes have seen full-time student numbers rise by 18% to 11,310 from 2008 to last year.
However, in the same period, the number of lecturing staff in the 14 colleges fell almost 7% from 4,845 to 4,516, with more likely to have retired up to the end-of-February deadline to avoid pension cuts.
TUI general secretary John MacGabhann, who will address the union’s annual congress in Wexford today, said class sizes and lecturer workload have increased significantly as a result of the changes, and the appropriate levels of support are no longer available to students who need it.
“This increased workload is having a severely detrimental effect on the research capacity of the institutes at a time when such research is demanded by Government as critical to economic recovery,” he said.
Mr MacGabhann said that although academic support for students who need help was hugely important to increase retention and completion rates, lecturers were more and more stretched, leaving students struggling to access feedback and personal attention in a timely manner.
A 2010 Higher Education Authority report showed dropout rates were particularly high in the institutes. Its research also suggests students with lower Leaving Certificate results, particularly in maths, are at most risk of not progressing to the second year of courses.
However, the TUI says that Government staffing restrictions overseen by the HEA and productivity measures in the Croke Park Agreement are adding to inequalities between the teaching load of institute lecturers and others. Under the agreement, institute lecturers are expected to be available more to their students for feedback and support.
Mr MacGabhann said: “Workload involving assessment, examinations, feedback and administrative duties has increased massively. The result is that there is less time for research, scholarship and other academic duties such as engagement with industry and community.”
