The three teacher unions today expressed their united opposition to cuts in frontline school staffing. The unions made their call as talks with the Department of Education and Skills on school staffing began.

The talks getting underway today result from the four year national recovery plan published last November which signalled further cutbacks in teacher numbers from September 2012. The plan committed the Department to consult the education partners to provide them with a chance to identify a range of cost cutting measures for government to consider. However it clearly stated that if “alternative feasible measures to deliver these savings cannot be identified, appropriate increases in the classroom teacher allocation schedule will be introduced”.

Sheila Nunan, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said Irish class sizes at primary level were the second highest in the EU. She said there was no room to increase class sizes in primary schools most of which are overcrowded. “More  than 100,000 pupils are in classes of more than 30 pupils while the average class size at primary level across the EU is 22,” she said. “There is no scope to further increase class sizes.”  

Pat King, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland said: “Further cuts would cause unimaginable damage to second-level schools which have always operated on a shoestring. The recent cutbacks have impacted negatively on every student at a vital stage in their lives and development. Vulnerable students have been disproportionately affected.”

Peter MacMenamin, general secretary of the Teachers Union of Ireland said: “The education service has already been hacked back to the bare bones and cannot sustain any further attacks on provision. Any further cuts would have devastating consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised students in classrooms around the country.”

The three unions said all teachers had already taken significant pay reductions, absorbed the major staffing cuts already announced and were fully compliant with the terms of the Croke Park Agreement. 

Already this year more than 1,200 teacher posts have been cut from the system affecting primary and post primary schools. Most of the job losses were in the area of Traveller education with further cuts in English language teachers, disadvantaged staffing and Gaelscoileanna.