INTO conference: The average class size in the Republic is the second largest in the EU and reflected chronic under-investment in education, the INTO president said last night.
Speaking at the opening session of the INTO congress, Austin Corcoran said the average class size at over 24 pupils was well above the EU average (20 pupils).
Classes of over 30 pupils were still common, he said, in some schools because of the lack of trained substitute teachers.
In the third richest country in the world this is overcrowding, he said.
Class sizes, he said, have not been adjusted nor improved since 2002.
"The INTO's current objective is to secure a maximum class size of 25:1 in all mainstream classes and that this objective would be delivered within an agreed timeframe."
He said he expected real engagement on this issue from Minister for Education Mary Hanafin "in contrast to her predecessor who thought that by counting teachers he could in some way, known only to himself, reduce the size of our classes.
"Class size was an issue in Kildare and Meath recently. I assure you that unless resolved it will be an issue in the other 39 constituencies in the next general election."
The INTO, he said, would also be working to ensure the Government honoured the commitments in its Programme for Government. This promised that the average size of classes for children under nine would be below the international best practice guideline of 20:1.
On special education, he said the system remained in crisis. "The INTO supported integration and inclusion as an antidote to the almost total segregation that previously existed. But we did so, on the basis that it would be in the interests of the individual child and that Government would resource the system properly. I believe that neither of these has happened. We have not had the system properly resourced and we have, unfortunately, many mainstream placements that are not in the interests of the child."
Teachers accept that mainstream education works well for some children and there are many success stories. But there are also many failures.
It is time for Government to put a real choice before parents of special needs children, he said.
Mr Corcoran also spoke about the high international recognition of the primary sector in the Republic, despite underfunding by the State. The Government has rarely invested over 6 per cent of our GNP in education, even though this was the widely recognised international benchmark, he added.
In the boom years since the start of the 1990s, he said: "We never once exceeded the 6 per cent minimum benchmark line during that period.
"We reached 6 per cent investment only twice over the past 16 years, in 1993 and 1994. For the other 14 years we have been short-changed.
"In 2001, when the OECD compared education investment across the then 15-country EU, Ireland ranked 13th out of the 15 EU countries, with half of the EU countries scoring above 6 per cent of GNP, and Denmark scoring close to 10 per cent of GNP.
He said it was a "national scandal" that many qualified teachers are looking for work when over 400 people with no qualifications are allowed in our classrooms as teachers.
"Dedicated, enthusiastic graduates should not be living from day to day, submitting themselves to a short term hiring fair while those with no qualifications take their places in classrooms."
