Untrained teacher use criticised

INTO CONFERENCE: Using untrained teachers in primary classrooms was akin to substituting gardaí with "enthusiastic bouncers from the local pub", INTO general secretary Mr John Carr told delegates yesterday.

Mr Carr accused the Government of treating the teaching profession with contempt and showing a callous disregard for the welfare of children. "Our children are entitled to properly trained, fully qualified professional teachers who cannot be replaced by enthusiastic amateurs," he said.

The pressure on qualified teachers was intolerable as they were "stretched to the limit" trying to cover for untrained staff. Disadvantaged schools were bearing the brunt of this, he said.

More than 1,000 untrained people were regularly employed in classrooms, with an extra 800 untrained substitutes on any given day, he said.

Successive governments had turned "a cynical deaf ear" to this problem by their failure to provide enough places in teacher training colleges. "With the colleges of education packed to capacity, we can expect in September 2002 the figure of 1,800 untrained will be reduced by only 300." The INTO had proposed realistic solutions to the shortage, but these were being ignored by the Government, he said.

Among its solutions, the union is calling for an immediate increase in intake to the colleges of education, an accelerated graduate course for qualified post primary teachers and an accelerated Irish qualification for teachers from Northern Ireland.

The "unrealistic Irish language expectations" for primary teachers was severely narrowing the pool of potential teachers, Mr Noel Ward, of the Tallaght branch, said. Mr Ward was speaking on a motion condemning the shortage.

"Permitting qualified teachers who graduated outside the State to teach in our schools could make a substantial difference to teacher supply," he said.

Most people sitting the Irish language exam were already teaching in schools, he said, but could not gain full status without the Cáilíocht, which had a failure rate of 41 per cent in the October 2001 sitting.

Ms Geraldine Kelly, a secondary teacher working in a Ballyhaunis primary school, said teachers in her position felt they have no status. "We are made feel like second-class citizens within the system. It is extremely demoralising for us."

The teacher shortages were having a crippling affect on class size, the conference heard. Ms Mary Connor, of the Listole branch, said the Minister for Education's claim earlier in the week that the overall pupil-teacher ratio stood at 19:1 was "an insult" to teachers.

"The use of this type of statistic is not only misleading but indeed insulting to the teachers who struggle every day to provide the best quality of service to classes of 33, 34 and 35 pupils."