Teachers are struggling with workload says union
Urgent action is required to ease the excessive workload burden teachers are experiencing, this year’s Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) Congress has heard.
The motion adopted by delegates, during Tuesday’s Congress in Kerry, emphasised the need to ease the unreasonably high level of pressure placed upon teachers and school leaders in recent years, the INTO said.
The motion came after the INTO published a report earlier in the year about the workload challenges facing teachers and school leaders, which revealed sobering insights in the lived experiences of our members.
The report found that 9 in 10 primary teachers are struggling with a workload that is ‘bursting at the seams’, while it also revealed principals work an additional 600 hours a year outside school time.
The INTO said: “Paperwork takes up too much time, while unrealistic expectations and an overloaded curriculum adds to the problem. The Department of Education Chief Inspector’s report itself concluded that the requirements placed on school leaders are becoming ‘unsustainable’.”
The teacher’s union said it has fought to ease demands for overburdened school leaders for many years. Using the sectoral bargaining fund within Building Momentum, 1,450 asssistant principal (AP) posts were restored to primary and special schools in September 2022.
Congress also demanded school leadership teams be given dedicated time to engage with and implement the new curriculum, following publication of the framework for the new curriculum earlier this year.
INTO President John Driscoll said: “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 excessive work pressures which are placing an unsustainable strain on teachers and school leaders in primary and special schools. Government’s failure to restore the number of APs to pre-austerity levels is causing consternation in schools. These posts must be restored in Budget 2024.”
Substitute teacher coverage
Meanwhile also at the Congress, delegates supported a motion calling for full substitute teacher coverage for all approved teacher absences including all family illness leave, self-certified sick leave and EPV days, for all primary and special schools.
The organisation previously welcomed the establishment of the teacher supply panel scheme which currently provides support to schools for short-term absences. However, members now believe this scheme must be expanded to cover all primary schools.
INTO Deputy General Secretary Deirdre O’Connor said: “Regular access to qualified substitute teachers is essential for the ongoing delivery of primary education. It is morally indefensible that children in primary and special schools are regularly denied fully qualified teachers. As a union, we fought for the establishment of a national supply panel network to address the challenges experienced for several years in accessing substitute teachers.
“The expansion came about following the conclusion of a successful pilot scheme which proved beyond doubt that this model benefits school communities, who deeply value the scheme and which is working successfully in most areas. The scheme needs to be expanded to all areas of the country.”
She added: “A number of crises are currently affecting the ability of schools, particularly in larger urban areas to fill key roles including permanent teaching positions and to recruit staff onto these panels. The cost-of-living crisis, the lack of housing and massive increases to rents have exacerbated the problems associated with teacher recruitment.”