'Deliberate underfunding' has hurt Ireland's education system, teachers' congress told

Michael Gillespie: 'There is no excuse for the continued neglect of our education system'. File picture: Tommy Clancy

Ireland’s education systems have suffered from “chronic and deliberate underfunding”, a teachers’ union has been told.

In his opening address at the TUI annual congress in Wexford, the union’s general secretary Michael Gillespie told members that the underfunding in question amounts to “a legacy of austerity prolonged by political indifference”.

“Our economic circumstances are no longer an excuse for paltry spending and pitiful investment. There is no excuse for the continued neglect of our education system,” Mr Gillespie said.

“What is needed now is decisive, transformative investment in public education, investment that recognises the value of our work and the needs of our students.”

On the most recent public pay agreement which the teaching unions have endorsed, the general secretary said productivity-based increases to teacher salaries – a local bargaining element of the agreement which could lead to pay hikes of up to 3% - should not have the unintended consequences of leading to additional workloads, intensification of work, or “unrealistic efficiency demands”.

Mr Gillespie said that work intensification for teachers “is breaking our profession”.

“There is an ever-increasing workload and never enough time. When time disappears, work intensification takes its place. This spiral is unsustainable,” he said. “Let us call it what it is – burnout.”

The union will on Wednesday morning launch the results of a study regarding health checks of educators across the country.

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In order to alleviate workplace stress, union members must insist upon the “necessary goal” of reducing student contact hours to 20 per week, and classroom ratios to 20 students per class, he said.

In terms of senior cycle reform, Mr Gillespie said his union had entered talks with the Department of Education “in good faith”.

The coming reforms, set to be introduced next September, have been a major bone of contention for teaching unions, which claim they will put an onerous burden on teachers while reducing educational standards.

Mr Gillespie said that the union has “already tabled a substantial set of proposals” which he said would centre the talks around "what our members need and what our students deserve”. “If the system is to change, the supports must change too. Anything less will fail,” he said.

He welcomed the minister for education’s decision to allow teachers earlier access to a permanent contract, announced on Monday. However, he said schools should also receive enhanced allocations for teacher hours, with clearly defined “career pathways” to keep teachers in the profession.