‘Teacher/pupil ratio is coming down every year’
EDUCATION Minister Norma Foley has said that the Government is committed to bringing down the teacher/pupil ratio as Ireland continues to lag behind its European counterparts.
Funding in Tuesday’s Budget for a one-point fall in the teacher/student ratio would bring it down to 24 students for every teacher instead of the current 25. But despite the Education Department getting a €9.2billion package in the Budget, Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said on Tuesday that ‘our schools remain underfunded, our classrooms remain crowded and our children hungry’.
He also pointed out that the student/teacher of 24 to one was still significantly higher than the European average of 20 to one.
However, Minister Foley defended the small reduction in the number yesterday, stating that funds have to be shared among a range of measures. ‘Last year, I was very pleased to have secured a one-point reduction in [student/teacher ratio],’ she argued. ‘This year, a one-point reduction. Every year we have committed to that and we have built upon it and I think it’s a very, very positive step forward. And we will advance that. You must also look at the Budget in its broadest context and all the other initiatives that we’re bringing in.’
Minister Foley said that her department had committed €32million to the DEIS programme for disadvantaged schools, another €20million has been invested in books, while posts will be created for 1,165 special needs assistants (SNAs). She said: ‘There are many competing demands. We are doing as much as we can as quickly as we can.’
She added that a ‘few hundred’ new DEIS schools will come on stream under the Budget. However, she would neither confirm nor deny whether schools could lose their allocation. Another 1,750 new teaching positions will also be created under the Budget measures, including 900 in primary schools.
Junior minister for special education
‘They need these resources badly’
and inclusion Josepha Madigan also pledged that she will work to ensure the 1,156 new SNA posts promised in the Budget will be placed into classrooms. It follows criticism from the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals that the posts promised last year have not all been realised.
Ms Madigan explained: ‘Only about 17 SNAs still need to be filled. When Minister Foley and I were in our negotiations with [Public Expenditure Minister] Michael McGrath, we made the point that there’s no frills to these teachers. We’re going to need all of them and they will all be used.
‘I know that they need these resources badly... €2billion is being spent on special education.’