Madam, – In his article “Teachers’ summer shutdown should not be a closed book” (Opinion, June 9th), Brian O’Connell refers to an OECD table which shows that Irish second-level teachers are expected to be present in schools for 735 hours per annum compared to the OECD average of between 1,116 hours and 1,192 hours.
The ASTI wishes to point out the following: For 12 out of the 14 countries represented in this table, the aggregate number of hours includes time spent teaching and time spent carrying out non-teaching duties. In the case of two out of the 14 countries – Ireland and New Zealand – time spent carrying out non-teaching duties is not included. As a consequence, the stated number of hours for Ireland and New Zealand are significantly lower than they are for other countries.
Irish second-level teachers are required to teach for 735 hours per annum which is well above the OECD and European average of 682 and 646.5 hours respectively.
In addition, Irish second-level teachers are required to be present in their schools for additional time and are required to carry out a wide range of non-teaching duties. These duties include administrative tasks required by law, lesson planning, subject and whole school planning, liaising with external personnel (eg special educational needs organisers and school inspectors), setting and marking exams, and meeting with parents. This does not include voluntary work such as organising musicals, coaching teams and running the photography club which usually take place outside the school day or at weekends.
Irish schools and teachers are renowned for their commitment to extra-curricular activities and research has shown that these activities benefit young people both personally and educationally.
There is no evidence to suggest that Irish teachers spend less time at school than the OECD average. In addition to teaching 735 hours per year, Irish second-level teachers carry out the same or similar non-teaching duties as their OECD counterparts. – Yours, etc,