ASTI: Extra hours for teachers harms education

The focus on extra work for teachers — but with little productivity as a result — will damage, not improve, education, ASTI president Máire G Ní Chiarba has warned.

Since the Croke Park agreement was ratified in 2011, an additional 33 hours a year are required to be delivered by teachers, usually for in-school meetings relating to subject teaching or whole-school policy issues.

Ms Ní Chiarba said teachers gave freely of their time when they started in, the interest of their students, and never sought recognition for those extra hours.