Teacher numbers cut known in December

In the Irish Examiner recently (Aug 28), the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB) said that normal circumstances did not apply this year, because it had only been notified of its teacher allocation in June, by the Department of Education.

In fact, the change in the pupil-teacher ratio in further education, in effect a cut in the teaching allocation of 10.5%, was announced in the budget in Dec 2012.

The preliminary allocation sent by CDVEC (now CDETB) to each centre, in January, reflected this cut.

Under pressure from the unions, teachers and students in further education, the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, invited VECs to appeal the cuts.

In the face of the loss of 48 whole-time equivalents, CDVEC sought to have only 13.3 returned. An additional 10 WTEs was granted.

This is 3.3 WTEs less than the CDVEC requested.

Are these the extraordinary circumstances that the CDETB says allow for the disregarding of ‘normal’ rights and circumstances?

Helen Mahony

Ballyfermot College

of Further Education

Sutton Park