This article is from page 16 of the 2006-04-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
MORE teachers for students is the way to better grades for pupils and greater safety and job satisfaction for staff, according to Clare delegates at the ASTI conference in Ennis.
Delegates Peter Quinn and Jack Keane were speaking in support of a motion before conference to have the pupil-teacher ration reduced to 15 to 1.
Quinn told the conference that keeping the ratio at that level would create a more effective teaching environment and help solve discipline problems in the classroom.
“Teachers are now subject to physical and verbal abuse and are having their authority in the classroom challenged,” he said.
Quinn said that in co-operation with other unions, he believed that the ratio could be achieved.
The Ennis teachers said that it was the aim of all unions involved to have a safe teaching environment, high academic achievement for pupils and a school system to be proud of.
Delegates heard that in France, a 600-pupil school would have 68 teachers, while in Ireland, a school of that size would have just 38 teachers.
The motion was supported by delegate Jack Keane, who said that Ireland had one of the highest pupilteacher ratios in Europe.
Keane said that when he first entered the profession, the ratio was 15 pupils to one teacher, which was a “much better situation.”
He added that the report from the Task Force on student behaviour recommended a reduced pupil-teacher ratio to cope with the discipline problems in the classroom.
But this would not happen without joint pressure from teachers, parents and students, as there was no finance or plan currently in place to reduce pupil-teacher numbers, he added.
Meanwhile, the conference at the West County hotel in Ennis heard from Education and Science Minister, Mary Hannafin, that some schools were not opening their doors to pupils with special needs.
She sharply criticised the attitude of some schools that special needs pupils would be better off elsewhere.
“Open up, make sure that parents know that their child is welcome in your school and I will give you the resources to support them,” the Minister said.
“If there are schools that have half of a learning post, while the school up the road has a whole team of special education staff, it is because the school up the road is the one that has taken in more children with special needs. Take in students and the resources will follow,” she said.