Sixty per cent of teachers ‘feeling continuously stressed’

Job satisfaction among secondary school teachers has dropped sharply in the past five years, with administrative work and school evaluations among the biggest gripes .

Only 44 per cent of respondents in a survey published today said they were quite satisfied or very satisfied with their work compared to 77 per cent in 2009.

The Millward Brown poll, commissioned by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), also identifies strong resistance to implementing the planned reform of the Junior Cycle without extra resources.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn is trying to phase in a system of continuous assessment which replaces the Junior Cert exam with a view to reducing "rote learning". The new scheme is due to be introduced on a subject-by-subject basis, staring in September with English.

But 36 per cent of respondents to the poll said their school had little or no capacity to implement the framework, while 53 per cent said they had limited capacity.

Just 11 per cent said they had good capacity to implement the plan.

The survey of 1,915 teachers took place just over a month ago - after the ASTI had begun balloting on industrial action over the Junior Cycle reforms. The union since voted 88 per cent to 12 per cent in favour of withdrawing co-operation from the plan.

The TUI has also voted to withdraw co-operation.

For the opinion poll, ASTI members were asked to identify the main sources of job dissatisfaction. The burden of administrative duties topped the list of replies, having been named by 79 per cent of respondents. Marking or preparation time was next at 66 per cent.

Eighty-one per cent of teachers believe their work demands have increased significantly since cutbacks in schools began. Some 51 per cent of respondents believed their work demands were “very heavy” compared to 30 per cent in 2009.

Administration work, and taking part in inspections and evaluations are the areas where teachers say demands have risen the most. Teachers also report an increase in correcting and marking work due to larger class sizes.

Asked about the impact of the increased work demands, 69 per cent agreed they were frustrated that they couldn’t spend time with individual students, while 60 per cent of respondents said they were “feeling continuously stressed”.

ASTI general secretary Pat King said: "Schools and teachers are doing much more with much less. At a time of greatly diminished resources they are responding to the changing social and economic landscape and its manifestation in schools.

“For example, teachers are reporting an increase in the number of students experiencing mental health issues. Schools and teachers are also adapting to additional work demands in the form of approximately 20 new Department of Education and Skills’ initiatives and reforms.

“Today’s research clearly demonstrates that schools are experiencing system overload and that teaching and learning are under threat.”

Asked what could be done to increase their school’s capacity to implement the Junior Cycle reforms, 77 per cent recommended deferral “to give schools time to plan”. Some 75 per cent called for more in-service teacher training, 55 per cent said there should be reduced class sizes and a third cited the need for better ICT infrastructure.

ASTI president Sally Maguire said: "The Minister must be concerned that teacher morale is in serious decline under his watch. The fact that 89 per cent of teachers do not believe their school has the capacity to implement the Minister's Junior Cycle proposals is alarming.

“The recent OECD PISA report found that Irish second-level students are amongst the world’s top performers in reading literacy and are also performing significantly above the average in maths and science. What students need is Junior Cycle reform which builds on these strengths.”