Paperwork means less teaching time: TUI

Extra hours, preparing classes, and student corrections are among the heaviest duties for second-level teachers, who have almost all seen their workload increase significantly in five years, a survey suggests.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) say the findings reflect the impact of years of cutbacks that have seen growing administrative work take away from their core teaching duties.

Of its 545 members who responded to the online survey last month, 92% indicated they have been working more outside their timetabled hours. Almost 98% agreed with the statement that they often have to take work home, impacting on their personal time.

The increased use of new technology in classes has helped change teaching methods for 89% of survey respondents, but almost three quarters say the time needed to prepare and access suitable materials has added to their workload.

TUI general secretary John MacGabhann said that a series of cutbacks over the past seven years has seen pupil-teacher ratios worsen, middle-management structures substantially dismantled, and supports and programmes that benefited vulnerable students abolished or cut.

“On top of this, the volume of legal and reporting demands imposed on teachers has grown exponentially,” said Mr MacGabhann.

He said the capacity of teachers and schools to deal with extra work was a key factor behind the mandate for industrial action against the rollout of changes to junior cycle education.

Since last April the TUI has directed its 10,000 second-level members not to take part in training or other activities relating to the reforms, along with 17,000 members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, and both unions closed 720 schools in one-day strikes in December and January.

TUI members’ concerns will be relayed to Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan at their annual congress next Wednesday, but she has not been invited to next week’s ASTI convention. The leaders of both unions this week issued another reminder to members not to take part in junior cycle English training, which the minister has decided to roll out — online last week and in regional centres after Easter — despite not having ASTI or TUI agreement on the reforms.

Mr MacGabhann said students ultimately lose out when time is stolen from teaching and learning duties.

“If the country truly aspires to providing a world-class education system, teachers must be relieved of the intolerable, intrusive, and frequently unnecessary administrative burden that has accumulated over recent years. Excessive form-filling and box-ticking are a damaging distraction from the traditional, core values of teaching,”

He said teachers are frustrated and disillusioned by extra hours required under the Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements and the way that time is being used.

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