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The media tells you that greedy teachers are striking for money while their students are the victims. But there is another story. It is a story of teacher shortages and of classes going untaught for considerable periods of time.
Meaning what? Well, the logical conclusion is that before long an experienced teacher will be teaching 23-25 students in Rathgar while a younger person, fresh out of college maybe, struggles with 30 students in Tallaght or in Coolock.
Did you know that there is a school in Donaghmede which has the services of a remedial teacher for no more than 5 hours per week? Or that a second year class in another north side school had eight French teachers in the space of two months during this current school year? But how could you be expected to know? Information such as this is not easy to come across. The media tells you that greedy teachers are striking for money while their students are the victims. And many students and parents have indeed been greatly inconvenienced by the recent ASTI dispute. But there is another story. It is a story of teacher shortages and of classes going untaught for considerable periods of time. It is a story of subjects no longer being available in certain schools, of unqualified teachers, of increasing class sizes in poorer areas and most of all it is a story of children, a large percentage of whom are already disadvantaged, waiting a full week to see a remedial teacher.
But who really cares, after all? The Irish Times tells us that many students are being discriminated against since they can't afford grinds during ASTI industrial action. Did you know that there is a primary school in north inner city Dublin where not one single member of the teaching staff has more than a year's experience? Or that 67% of 15 year olds in this area are functionally illiterate. Or have you heard about the two Leaving Certificate students currently attending a French class, never having studied French before, since their Construction Studies class folded last November due to the lack of a teacher?
This is vital information if you wish to consider the matter of teachers' pay. Ultimately serious questions will be asked of Irish journalists. Is it conceivable that they could investigate and comment on this story for almost six months without understanding the consequences of the worsening teacher shortage? Maybe so. Who knows? Anything is possible, I suppose. Or do they identify their market and tell these readers what they wish to hear?
Victims? Spend an afternoon of free periods with a second year class in Killinarden if you want to see real victims. It actually doesn't matter whether or not we think that a teacher is worth a private sector wage, the question is really whether or not we are prepared to accept the consequences if they are not paid one. And of course we are..as long as the children left without teachers are those already at a disadvantage.
Benchmarking, with its unwieldy process and staggered payments, is unlikely to reverse a trend that will have already have worsened by June 2002. Teacher shortages will soon be impacting brutally on all children.
The author of this article is Peter Prendergast, a secondary school teacher.
