A Limerick teacher has said she had to postpone having additional children for a number of years because of restrictions on the amount of sick leave available.
Julianne Butler told the ASTI annual convention that she has experienced hyperemesis during all her pregnancies.
She said that from the start of each of her pregnancies she vomited regularly.
“I am best friends with the bathroom floor for nine months,” she told the conference in Killarney.
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Ms Butler said her first two children are aged 15 and 13 years but then there was a gap before she had two others who are aged six and three.
She said the reason for the age gap is that she had to hold off on having additional children to allow four years to roll over as her full complement of sick leave had been taken up.
Under public service rules teachers can avail of 183 paid sick days – either on full pay or half pay – over a four-year cycle.
Ms Butler said the position of the Department of Education was that in case of pregnancy-related issues, when fully-paid sick leave was used up, half pay would be provided.
The conference backed calls for the current sick leave scheme for teachers to be amended so that weekend and public holidays were not counted.
Separately the conference was told that the number of education personnel who had to take leave from their jobs due to assaults had increased by 64 per cent in recent years.
Ray Nolan from Drogheda said official figures in a Health and Safety Authority report showed that the numbers involved had increased from 260 to 404.
He said 106 cases involved primary teachers while over 280 involved special needs assistants.
Mr Nolan cited the case of one teacher from Cork, who had to be hospitalised after a school assault.
He said such cases were stories are “heartbreaking” and there were significant concerns over the lack of support provided for such teachers.
He said the education sector now suffered from the second highest rate of teachers having to take leave following workplace assaults and physical aggression.
Asti general secretary Kieran Christie said the under Department of Education rules the definition of assault was defined very narrowly and that this was no longer acceptable.
He said “you nearly have to have to show the bruises to qualify for assault leave”.
“The concept of psychosocial injury hasn’t yet arrived in the consciousness of the Department of Education. The psychological effects of an assault in the course of the teacher’s duties and during approved school activities can be devastating. This must change.”
Geraldine O’Brien of the Clare branch told of a teacher who had experienced a breakdown after what she described as a verbal assault.
She said the incident happened after the teacher was required to engage with a parent by her principal.
She warned what the young woman suffered was “horrendous” and left her inconsolable.
“She suffered a physical and mental breakdown as a result of this situation. One year later, she is somewhat recovered.”
