Education leaders in Donegal have slammed today’s budget saying school leaders and pupils have been ‘short-changed’.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) led a nationwide campaign to ensure that every politician in Dail Eireann was educated on the challenges facing our primary education system.
School leaders say class sizes are supersized, leaders are not supported, and the system grossly underfunds the running of primary schools to the tune of €46 million per year.
West Donegal native and INTO Secretary-General, John Boyle, said: “Ireland’s national ambition to become the best education and training service in Europe by 2026 can’t be secured if our pupils and school leaders are not adequately supported.
“Our school leaders deserve better – we need to see a restoration of assistant principal posts in our schools and teaching principals need a minimum of one leadership and management day per week.
John Boyle
Boyle added: “Despite acknowledging the class size differential in small schools and the school funding challenges facing all of our primary schools, today’s budget will do little to lower class sizes to eurozone levels or reduce the funding pressures facing schools.”
“Regrettably, in the first school year of the new decade, class sizes in Irish primary schools will still be the largest in the Eurozone.
“Ireland’s expenditure on primary education will remain in the bottom half of the European league and primary school leadership will continue to be neglected.”
“Our prudent and legitimate calls for a reduction of one pupil in all classes, the restoration of school capitation to pre-recession levels of €200 per pupil and supports for primary principals including middle leadership teams and more administrative release time have been ignored by the government.
“We simply cannot become the best if we fail to invest in the best.”
