Class sizes biggest issue in education

The president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) says we have failed to achieve Padraig Pearse’s education vision for Ireland.

“He would warn against the obsession with measuring children’s performance; he would question the use of targets and data collection for system purposes; he would challenge the media preoccupation with league tables, particularly in the north of our country, and with an overcrowded curriculum and a school system tasked with remedying the ills of society, I think he would ask, where is the time and space for teaching, learning and caring?” said Emma Dineen.

Ms Dineen’s remarks were part of her presidential address at the INTO Annual Congress in Wexford yesterday. She said class size is the single biggest issue facing the quality of education our children are receiving.