‘Startling’ new teacher report
Teaching has become more “stressful”, “demanding”, “challenging”, “inflexible” and/or “hectic” in the past 5 years, 9 out of 10 teachers have claimed in a new report.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) published the report on Tuesday describing its findings as “startling and sobering”.
The INTO said the report asked for detailed feedback from more 4,000 teachers and 1,100 school leaders which the union said represents a sizable percentage of the entire teaching profession at primary level.
Launching the report, INTO General Secretary John Boyle said: “The teaching profession in Ireland has been well regarded and respected for generations. If the Department of Education wants to ensure that Ireland retains its reputation for having a high-quality education system, they must urgently reduce the work overload which is putting huge strain on teachers and school leaders in primary and special schools.
“The right to disconnect is not sector-specific – all workers have this right, and the Government must ensure it is delivered to all those working in primary and special education. Government must recognise the damage that is being done to the profession with a never-ending list of new demands placed at the school door.”
He added: “As the framework for a revised primary curriculum comes into focus, the Irish Government has some decisions to make. They have failed to address our overcrowded classrooms and there continues to be a lack of a middle-management support structure in many schools. There is also an overload of initiatives.
“Significantly, the bureaucracy that creates obstacles to supporting inclusive education will jeopardise the effectiveness of the core purpose of teachers’ work – giving their best to the children in their classrooms. All of these factors act as barriers to further progress.”
The INTO have set out key recommendations to support teachers and principals. These include a fundamental review of the primary system to include a focus on school governance and school infrastructural supports and the appointment of administrative principals in all schools with more than 10 staff, and to schools with special classes.
Other recommendations include the provision of 2 leadership and management release days per week for teaching principals, together with release days for deputy principals, pro-rata, depending on school size as well as access to a HR advisory service for all principals to support them with such matters.
The need for teachers to collaborate and engage with continuous professional development and for whole school planning to be recognised and accommodated by the education system, is another recommendation as is the full restoration of assistant principal posts, many of which have been lost to schools since 2009.
Another one was that guidelines be issued to inform planning for special education with less demands for paperwork from teachers.
Key findings of the report include:
• 90% of teacher respondents to this research project said they struggle with a challenging workload
• Teachers are spending too much time on paperwork with no demonstrable effect on the quality of teaching and learning
• The workload of a teacher is ‘bursting at the seams’, with increasing demands, additional complexity and unrealistic expectations cited as common issues along with an overloaded curriculum and a tsunami of new initiatives
• School leaders work an average of 15 additional hours a week on school-related work outside their normal working hours; they work just under eight hours (mean avg.) per week during holidays
• School leaders report a detrimental impact on their occupational health and wellbeing, stemming from the difficulties in meeting the expectations of the role
• Both teachers and school principals expressed their deep dissatisfaction with the failure of the Department of Education (DE) to properly plan for teacher supply, and the DE’s removal of substitute cover for a number of approved teacher absences