Primary teachers are being asked to work as “therapists, psychologists, grief counsellors and homeless support workers” in addition to helping children reach their full potential, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) annual conference heard.
Elaine Rattigan said that urgent action was needed to tackle excessive workloads in schools if education authorities were serious about retaining teachers and principals. She said educators were increasingly expected to be “experts in all areas” such as additional needs, bereavement, bullying, poverty and anxiety while still ensuring children were being “challenged appropriately so they can reach their full potential, whatever that may be”.
Communication with parents has added greatly to demands, she said. Since Covid teachers were much more accessible and received messages during and outside school hours despite the “right to disconnect”.
“As educators we are constantly learning and evolving, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult to engage in continuous professional development due to lack of funding, time, lack of face-to-face courses and don’t get me started on substitution cover,” she said.
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“If we are serious about retaining teachers and school leaders, and decreasing workload, there needs to be greater focus on teacher wellbeing and ensuring our main focus is to educate the young people of this country.”
INTO delegates overwhelmingly backed a motion calling for urgent action to tackle the “excessive workload” experienced by teachers and school leaders, with members voicing concern about an unhealthy work-life balance.
Earlier this year the union published a report on the workload challenges facing teachers and school leaders, which found that nine in 10 primary teachers were struggling with a workload that was “bursting at the seams”. It also estimated that principals worked an additional 600 hours a year outside school time.
David Fagan, deputy principal of a primary school in Dublin’s north inner city, told the congress of the need for greater investment to ensure vulnerable children have an equal opportunity to reach their full potential.
He was speaking during a motion which called for extra targeted supports for disadvantaged area (Deis) schools, and called on the Department of Education to provide additional resources to enable their most vulnerable pupils to reach their full potential.
“As a former pupil in a Deis primary school and Deis secondary school, and a student in St Pat’s who was part of the Higher Education Access Route scheme, I know first-hand the importance of the Des scheme in closing the gap between educational outcomes of pupils living in disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged areas,” he said.
INTO members supported a motion calling for extra supports to be made available to schools in disadvantaged areas, including fully resourced and staffed “nurture rooms” in our most disadvantaged schools.
Delegates also “condemned” the Government for failing to adequately support school leaders and restore key posts of responsibility in schools arising from the austerity period.
