Teachers highlight importance of education in recession

More than 200 secondary school teachers are attending an ASTI conference in Dublin today which aims to highlight the social importance of education during the downturn.

The Nobel-prize winning poet Seamus Heany delivered the keynote address at the event during which he emphasised the lasting importance and influence of secondary level education.

He told teachers at the conference that their students will have a major impact on the Ireland of the future.

The ASTI also accused the Government of villifying teachers through relentless public sector cutbacks.

ASTI General Secretary John White said teachers are being dangerously under-valued by the Government.