TEACHING MATTERS:It's always been well known that a thick skin is a must for anyone pursuing a career in politics. Very often party politicians must take the heat for decisions they know to be wrong. Back in their constituencies, most adopt a veneer of sympathetic understanding of their constituents' point of view while blaming the party hierarchy, writes Aidan Gaughran

Occasionally a party politician will mount a robust defence of a decision made by party leaders. But in doing this, it's important to remember that there is a thin line between a courageous stand on behalf of the party and pure brass neck.

That line was spectacularly crossed recently by the Minister for Education and Science.

Attempting to dish the dirt on teachers refusing to accept the education cutbacks, Minister O'Keeffe spun a story about teachers not being in school on Mondays and Fridays. Never mind that once again he got his figures completely wrong, but am I the only one who reckons this should qualify him for the gold medal brass neck award? When was the last time Leinster House opened for business at all on a Monday or a Friday? The facts are that about half of one per cent of teachers are absent due to illness on any Monday or Friday. That's a world away from the 100 per cent of TDs who don't have to report for business at all on those days.

The contentious issue is the Minister's proposal to withdraw substitute cover from teachers on uncertified sick leave. As a result, classes will be cancelled, parents may be asked to keep children at home or children will be packed into already overcrowded classes.

As a result of the decision, classes for children with special needs, English as an additional language or Travellers will be cancelled. So much for the Budgetary commitment to protect the vulnerable. If schools decide to split up pupils into other classes to avoid impacting on parents, then the reality is that all children will be affected. Teaching and learning as planned will be put on hold in order to turn teachers into child-minders for the day.

In a very weak defence of his decision, the Minister insists that he is reverting to the pre-2002 position when uncertified sick leave was not substitutable. What he fails to realise is how much primary classrooms have changed in the interim.

Two examples will suffice to show this. Many of the children affected will be special-needs children. One group will be children on the autistic spectrum who, most of all, need consistency. Not only will they have a new teacher but a new classroom as well. Many will be unable to cope.

Other children have specific medical needs that schools now help to accommodate. Today, it is not unusual for teachers to be ready to administer emergency medication in cases of diabetes or anaphylactic shock. How much more difficult will this be if classes of children have to be split up at short notice every time a teacher is ill. There are clear health and safety issues for school management to address.

But then a Government that refuses a vaccine to young girls whose families cannot afford to provide it privately couldn't be expected to have any understanding of such matters.

Maybe if they worked on Mondays and Fridays they'd increase their understanding of how their decisions impact on ordinary citizens.

• Aidan Gaughran is a primary school teacher in Clonmel, Co Tipperary