Realities of life in the classroom
Sir — Having been a teacher, deputy principal and principal, I would like to tell you about teachers in my school. This is in response to many in the media whom I would think being in a different sector are much less qualified than I am to speak about second-level education.
In my school, and I presume it is not unique, I watch teachers in a number of unpaid roles. They pick up the failings of society and parenting. Sometimes if a child is unlucky enough to have an alcoholic or a drug-using parent then the teacher is the only source to turn to for comfort and just the knowledge that someone cares about them.
I have recently learned that one of my teachers has been giving her lunch to a child who has none. Another of my staff noticed the signs of self-harming and reported it to me. The child’s parents were unaware even though it had been going on it for four months. They were most grateful to an alert and caring teacher.
Other teachers in my school bring students to soccer, gaelic football, athletics and hurling. One teacher recently asked me if he could start a badminton club after school. Language teachers have lunchtime clubs and there are chess clubs as well. A teacher in my school gives up his 10-minute break each morning to run the school tuck shop. He stocks it himself and gives the profits to the school. My transition year and leaving certificate applied co-ordinators are also voluntary. These are hugely time consuming jobs. These teachers do all these jobs on top of their teaching hours and on top of being a tutor to a class group (also voluntary). Talking of being a tutor, the role is one of counsellor, mammy (or daddy) and just making sure children have someone to turn to.
The 22 hours and holiday breaks are regularly thrown at teachers. Do people really think that the essay and tests corrected at night take no time? How can you correct 30 copies or exams and not use up two or three hours of your own time? Then, remember, classes need to be prepared. I find that on top of this teachers give freely of their time whenever a crisis occurs. Indeed, many years ago after a fire, teachers scrubbed their classrooms from top to bottom.
I just wanted to show that teachers are not money-grabbers. Many were born to be teachers just as nurses have a similar vocation. As I have a role in monitoring the Croke Park hours they have done them without complaint. Many would rather they were out on the training field or badminton court or in the library. Perhaps the DES would consider these activities as Croke Park hours. It would perhaps put teachers and the DES on better terms. As it stands, Croke Park hours are dominated by form-filling and policies. Let’s put that time into the children. I’d be afraid all this voluntary work would wane in the current climate.
Again I would ask surely the wonderful work done by teachers with children in my school is surely not unique. Paul Mac Entee, Dublin 16