This article is from page 2 of the 2012-05-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE retention of one classroom teacher in Boston National School and four English Language Support teachers [EAL] in Ennis has been described as a “stay of execution” by Mullagh teacher and local head of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), Sean McMahon.
The five teaching positions, which were due to be scrapped by the Department of Education in September, will now be retained for the 2012 to 2013 school year. While he welcomed the successful appeals, Mr McMahon said that a major u-turn in government educational policy is needed if rural Clare schools are to continue to provide top-class education for the people of Clare.
“This is good news but we have to balance this with the communications coming from the Department of Education which indicate that all schools will have to meet the new student number criteria come September,” he said.
“It is not fair to compare urban and rural schools, especially in the Burren where planning permission is difficult to obtain. The minister [Ruairi Quinn (LAB)] should take a step back from this approach and realise that it is not fair to compare the educational realities of schools in urban and rural areas.”
Mr McMahon also criticised a situation which could see a large number of the county’s urban schools lose English Language Support teachers in the coming years. Four Ennis schools which were due to lose a teacher each in September will now retain their EAL.
The four affected schools are the Holy Family Junior and Senior Schools, Ennis Educate Together and Scoil Chriost Ri in Cloughleigh. They each retained an additional EAL post in the appeals.
Boston National School is one of a number of small rural schools in Clare that face the prospects of teacher cuts and even closure, as a result of the drastic increase in the minimum numbers required to sustain one- and two-teacher schools.
“I’m happy that Boston has retained its post. While I regret the loss of any teaching post in Clare, I am satisfied that posts are being allocated where they are needed most. And need must be the criteria when it comes to something as important as primary education, not politics,” said Clare TD Michael McNamara (LAB).
“In that regard, I’m pleased that the need for four additional EAL posts in Clare was recognised on appeal and will be met – at Holy Family Junior and Senior Schools, Ennis Educate Together and Scoil Chriost Ri in Cloughleigh.” Wh ile it wo n ’t b e o ve rly w a rm , it sh o u ld b e p le a sa n t fo r m o st o f th is we e k, w ith Tu e sd a y, Th u rsd a y, Frid a y a n d Su n d a y th e b e st o f th e we e k. Th e e a rly fo re c a st fo r n e xt we e k is sim ila r.