ITs are underfunded so education standards are already suffering
These are part of a rolling campaign of action by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) against the Government’s refusal to address critical problems.
While student numbers have increased by 32% in the last seven years, funding has been slashed by 35% and staff numbers by 9.5%. Those reduced staff numbers, precarious employment, workload, and underfunding are now crisis issues.
The OECD’s ‘Education at a Glance’ report, published this week, highlights the ratio of students to teaching staff at third-level, which is 20:1, far above the OECD average of 16:1.
This is further evidence of the unfair and unsustainable workload on staff.
ITs provide courses from Level 6 up to Level 10, which is the highest point on the National Framework of Qualifications.
Lecturers in the ITs have weekly teaching hours that are twice the international norm, and they also devise and update courses, maintain links with employers in their regions to make their courses relevant to industry and commerce, conduct rigorous, scholarly work (including publishing academic articles), assist students at an individual level and assess their work. The staffing and workload problems in the ITs are not alone damaging to staff, but also to students and the quality of the education service.
The institutes have made a huge contribution to the social, economic and cultural development of our regions.
Ongoing and sustainable economic progress is dependent on this sector, which has about half of the country’s third-level student numbers.
This campaign is about the mistreatment of our lecturers and research staff, but it is also about the service to students and the effectiveness of third-level education.
Rather than threatening us with more draconian FEMPI legislation, in an attempt to silence us, the Government should be talking to the TUI about how to resolve the problems.
Gerry Quinn,
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