As with many public services education is often overlooked by mainstream politics and politicians – it barely surfaced in the recent general election campaign. Here Deirdre Cronin examines the class basis to the crisis in education and argues the US teachers’ struggles of the past decade need to be replicated here.
With over a quarter of the population engaged in education, between primary, secondary and third level, and tens of thousands working in the sector, education policy impacts widely. Only periodically however does it hit the top of the political agenda.
In the last general election campaign, education did not feature as prominently as many of us would have liked, considering the system currently is consumed by problems in a number of key areas: a crisis of teacher recruitment and retention, completely inadequate provision of special education and proposed second level reform.
The new Minister for Education is Helen McEntee, with Michael Moynihan appointed Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion. These appointments will do nothing to alter the status quo – underfunded schools, overburdened teachers and under-resourced special education.
A question of attitude
The Fine Gael/Fianna Fail attitude towards education was summed up in two incidents during the election campaign.
At the launch of Peter Burke’s election campaign, Fine Gael members whooped and cheered as their multi-millionaire backer Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said “There is nothing wrong with teachers. I love teachers — I have four children — but I wouldn’t generally employ a lot of teachers to go out and get things done”. It was crass and insulting to the work of teachers in communities across the country.
Fianna Fáil’s outgoing Education Minister Norma Foley, when questioned on the teacher shortage crisis at an Irish National Teachers Organisation pre-election meeting, said
“Just on that, the word crisis when written in one particular language, it means opportunity or it means division or disappointment. We see it as an opportunity to do more and more in (that) space.”
This at a time when she and her government presided over an unprecedented crisis with approximately 1,000 posts lying vacant in primary and special schools, according to a joint INTO and management bodies report. An ASTI survey at the end of the 2023/24 school year reported two thirds of secondary schools had vacant teacher positions last year.
Class
Approaches to education are informed by ideology – for those on the left education is child and learner-centred, progressive and participatory and, of course, fully free and accessible to all.
For those on the right it is linked closely to the needs of the labour market and profit making. It is provided as cheaply as possible with a large element of private provision for the better off. Of course, this private provision is often subsidised by the state, as is the case with teachers in private schools being paid by the Department of Education.
Underfunding
Despite the fact that education is more accessible for many than ever before, some fundamentals remain the same: young people from disadvantaged areas spend less time in education and do not achieve the same level of academic outcome as their wealthier peers.
A parallel inequality exists for children with special educational needs. Again, better off families who can privately access the full suite of assessment, supports and services have much better experiences and outcomes in education.
Underfunding of education is therefore very clearly a class issue, and class differences in educational outcomes are historical and chronic in an Irish context.
The latest OECD report Education at a Glance found that on average OECD countries spend the equivalent of 5.7% of GDP on education from early childhood to third level, while Ireland spends just 2.8%. The primary teachers’ union, the INTO, sought a 20% increase in day-to-day funding for schools (capitation grants) in the Budget – the government gave 12%.
This means that shortfalls will have to be made up by fundraising, donations and contributions from parents. In wealthy areas this is not a problem, but in the majority of the country, where incomes are squeezed by the cost of living crisis and housing pressures, it is a burden that many parents and caregivers simply can no longer carry.
Special Education
The other area severely affected by under-resourcing is special education. All children should be automatically entitled to the education that most suits their needs. In Ireland however, the insufficient numbers of Special Needs Assistants available in mainstream classrooms, the lack of special class places and the complete dearth of therapeutic services have created a nightmare scenario for thousands of families. With the public system of assessment and service provision completely overwhelmed, there is a booming private sector where ability to pay determines access (though even supports and school places are still not guaranteed).
The energies of teachers, families and all those involved in providing services are so focused on resourcing and fighting for access, that really considering what an inclusive and progressive education for children with additional needs could look like does not get the attention and prominence it deserves.
Recruitment crisis
Unfortunately, with the current staffing shortages hitting special education particularly hard, the situation has the potential to further deteriorate. Solving the recruitment and retention crisis is not prioritised. Instead, it seems the Government’s focus is elsewhere. The intention to accelerate the redevelopment of the Senior Cycle Programme has been signalled.
This proposal has been rejected by secondary school teachers. It sparked lunchtime protests during the election campaign. Teachers have been very clear that rather than promoting “equity and excellence for all” as the government intends, the proposed reforms will reinforce the class inequalities already endemic in the system.
Introducing an Additional Assessment Component (or project work) in the context of some of the largest class sizes in Europe, and a serious lack of resources and infrastructure in many schools, would mean that those students from wealthier areas and those in private schools would have considerable advantage. While the debate around moving from an examination-focused system to a different model is an interesting one, curricular reform at the moment is driven from the top and imposed on students and teachers. This approach needs to be stopped.
From crisis to campaigning
The Irish education system has become increasingly overburdened with paperwork, inspection and Department initiatives. Pay levels don’t meet the cost of housing in most urban centres. Newer entrants have poorer pension rights while reversing austerity related pay inequality took years to tackle. Secondary teachers, in particular, find permanent contracts difficult to secure, while access to, and financial recognition for, additional study and professional development is extremely limited.
With large class sizes, poor promotional opportunities and underfunded schools it is no surprise that teachers are either changing career or emigrating in significant numbers.
We are clearly at the point now where those in and affected by education need to respond. The scope for a major campaign on education exists. The ASTI vote to protest against the Senior Cycle reforms is a start but we need stronger action from trade unions and a broader struggle to include parents, students and the special education sector.
The struggles of teachers in the US during the first Trump presidency provide a good model for organising. In Chicago, West Virginia and elsewhere it was notable how teachers reached out to their communities, involved parents & students, and successfully linked teachers’ working conditions with children’s learning conditions. Demands, while including pay rises, were broad and encompassed everything from class size to employing nurses and counsellors in every school to increased resources for homeless students.
This type of response is urgently needed within the education sector in Ireland. It is important to link teachers’ and special needs assistants’ campaigns with those of families fighting for special needs resources. Equally, it is important that we begin to mobilise on housing. The lack of affordable housing is one of the largest factors in staff shortages and a broader fight across society for genuinely affordable public housing for all is vital.
As we face into five years of right-wing government, the time to start organising and mobilising is now.
Deirdre Cronin is a primary school teacher in Dublin’s South Inner City and an INTO activist.
