School labs need funding for Leaving

Sir, – Concerns referenced in “Extra funding for labs needed to avoid ‘unfair’ Leaving Cert” (News, June 17th) are consistent with a recent Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) survey finding in which 48 per cent of respondents disagreed with a statement that their school has the required facilities suitable for providing revised specifications for subjects including biology, physics and chemistry from 2025/26.

It is abundantly clear that significant additional resources will be required to ensure that all students have equality of opportunity in any redevelopment of Senior Cycle.

For too long, our policymakers have completely failed to provide the required resources to our education system. According to the most recent OECD figures, Ireland’s spend at second level ranks lowest of those countries for which figures are provided, where at 1 per cent of GDP our investment level is just half that of the OECD average.

Despite this shameful and chronic underfunding in international terms, Ireland continually excels in international metrics, most recently in the Pisa 2022 study, because of the quality of our teachers and the commitment of our students.

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Fairness and equality of opportunity must be cornerstones of the ongoing Senior Cycle redevelopment. It follows that adequate funding must be provided for all schools, big or small, urban or rural. There is too much at stake for such far-reaching change to be under-resourced. – Yours, etc,

DAVID WATERS,

President,

Teachers’ Union

of Ireland (TUI),

Rathgar,

Dublin 6W.