Some 120 teachers risk losing their jobs unless a Department of Education cap on the number of places in the Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) sector is lifted, the Teachers Union of Ireland has claimed.
The Department recently issued teacher allocations for 2004-05 based on the approved number of teachers in each school for the present academic year.
However, according to Mr Derek Dunne, TUI president, the Department's own figures estimate there will be approximately 2,000 students too many for the sector.
As a result, Mr Dunne said his union was "seriously concerned at the effect this move will have on the numbers of teachers in these courses".
"PLC courses provide vital services to the local community and provide an education outlet to thousands of adults who would otherwise be unemployed and untrained," he said. "(They) have enabled access or re-entry to the labour force by providing education training or reskilling to thousands of adults. They provide more second-chance education initiatives than our universities."
The capping of PLC student numbers would have a "devastating impact" on the whole sector, he said.
"As it stands, projected new courses for next year may not run, expansion is stalled, and there will be no new staffing for existing courses," he said.
"\ Minister, \ Dempsey, has repeatedly stated his commitment to boosting the numbers of disadvantaged students pursuing education, but moves like this achieve the exact opposite."
But a spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Science said no reduction was being made in the overall number of teaching posts in the sector.
Allocations made for the coming school year were, she said, based on the approved level of places in the sector.
The only circumstance in which the level of allocation was lower than the approved number of places was where the actual number enrolled in the course did not reach the approved level.
"The Minister for Education and Science has the responsibility to prioritise resource allocations across the system within the limit of resources available and having regard to competing needs," she said.
" In this context, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that schools operate within their approved levels of activity in the PLC and indeed in other sectors."