The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) today warned that any change in the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) will result in the loss of science subjects and honours level maths in countless schools. If the commitments of the Renewed Programme for Government were reneged on, a rumoured 0.5 increase in the PTR would result in a loss of over 500 teachers or every large school losing 33 classes of tuition every week.
Speaking today, TUI General Secretary Peter MacMenamin said:
“A worsening of the PTR by 0.5 would result in over 500 teachers being taken out of Irish schools already reeling from previous cutbacks. Essentially, every large school would lose a teacher and 33 classes of tuition every week.
As it stands, physics and to a lesser extent chemistry struggle to attract students due to a perception that the points system mitigates against the scoring of high grades in the subjects. The same also applies to higher level maths with modern languages next on the danger list.
For example, most English or French classes in the public school system may have up to 30 students, while a physics class might only cater for ten or twelve students depending on demand. If the PTR was increased again, schools will have to timetable for hundreds of students with smaller number of teachers and less tuition time. School management will have no choice but to maintain those subjects where larger numbers of students are catered for. ‘Minority’ subjects will be squeezed out.
In many such schools, science subjects are already hanging by a thread. It is an absolute certainty that these subjects will be sacrificed in the cull that another change in the PTR would necessitate. A school’s ability to offer higher level maths would also be in grave danger.
This is not a groundless warning. We are aware of many schools that dropped higher level phyiscs as a result of the change to the PTR two years ago. This hugely damaging cutback left countless other schools on the brink in terms of the retention of the subjects, with many class groups now mixing both higher and lower level grades or fifth and sixth year students in the same classroom in a last effort to offer the subjects.
Employer bodies, educationists and trade unionists have long voiced commitment to the concept of the smart economy. However, despite years of hollow discourse from Government ministers dating back to better economic times, this commitment is clearly not shared. The few good news stories in terms of job creation in the country in recent years have related to science projects such as in the biomedical sector, which makes the loss of these subjects even more devastating.
If the commitments made by Government parties eighteen months ago are reneged on, it will sound the death knell for not only the future of science and maths education in our schools, but also any hope we have of becoming attractive as a centre of educational excellence. We have made strong representation to both Government parties in this regard.
Investment in education is an investment in our future. It has never been more vital.”