FUNDING:EDUCATION IS strategically important and as a result should get more priority in the national budget, even in an economic downturn, the outgoing president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland said yesterday.
In her address to the ASTI conference, which followed that of Minister for Education Mary Hanafin, Patricia Wroe also said the Government could not continue failing to properly invest in second-level Irish education given the demands made on teachers.
Noting that 16 per cent of Junior Cycle students are in classes of 30 and more for core subjects, including Maths, she said the level of investment is such that "we never catch up".
As a result, the pupil-teacher ratio has remained unchanged in almost 10 years, she said.
As delegates voted unanimously to pursue a maximum class size of 20 students for all subjects - a move which Ms Hanafin dismissed as unlikely to happen - Ms Wroe called on her to resource second-level education properly.
In her experience, teachers are concerned about issues such as classroom motivation and management, resources and behaviours. This was "nothing to do with syllabus or curriculum", she said.
"If you want a knowledge-based society and every independent and international commentator is telling us that this is a cherished goal for us . . . you need to resource us properly," she said.
"Be assured, Minister, . . . this is not a rant born of us teachers wanting a cushy number but based on the concern that education is strategically important and thus it has to get more priority in the national budget, even in an economic downturn.
"You and we are aware, in spite of the billions of euro spend you quote on many occasions, that Ireland experiences below-average funding in education compared to other countries and this is internationally and objectively verified."
Ms Wroe said the disintegration in our society had seen these issues "pushed into" our schools. However, the main external focus was on "CAO results as indicators that a school is performing and is a 'good' school".
She added: "We are conscious as teachers of the incessant drive to deliver high points . . . this must be balanced with the seminal work of teachers in schools which encourages integration and a cohesive and collaborative response to the challenges in our society."
During a earlier debate on class size, delegates stressed the impact that smaller class sizes could have school discipline and an improved teaching environment.