Sir, – Further to “English language schools push back against ‘astronomical’ student protection charges” (Jack Horgan-Jones, News, August 15th), the sinking fund such school providers are being recommended to contribute to has been created out of necessity, given the numbers of sudden school closures experienced in since 2014. Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), under the guidance of Minister for Higher and Further Education Patrick O’Donovan, has a duty to ensure student security from the precarity that overnight closure brings, in the form of loss of classes, and withholding of deposits and full payment for courses paid upfront, in good faith. While reputable schools, rightly, welcome tighter regulation, disreputable ones can continue to operate outside these guidelines. As the article states, there is no legal imperative for schools to engage in this sinking fund scheme. In addition, obtaining the new TrustEd Ireland International Education Mark, which would compel all participating schools to be audited for curriculum, financial and corporate structure standards, is “not obligatory”.
More worrying is that no mention is made of the welfare of the teaching staff in these schools. Teachers have consistently been sidelined as an invisible cohort. When a school closes suddenly, teachers are often left with no legal recourse. Union membership is actively discouraged within many of these schools. Furthermore, the vast majority of ELT teachers are paid hourly (for face-to-face teaching hours only, rarely for preparation or meeting attendance), with €18 per hour seemingly the starting rate in many schools. With a timetable of 15 hours per week, that amounts to €270, below the €300 weekly threshold required to claim for jobseeker’s benefit in the event of sudden job loss.
I call on the Minister to ensure that this sinking fund is not exclusively for student protection, but also extended to ELT teachers in the event of sudden school closure. In too many cases, the State has been left to pick up the tab and pay teachers’ redundancy. Schools must be compelled to accept their responsibility to their teaching staff. – Yours, etc,
DEBORAH TOBIN,
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ELT Lecturer,
Mary Immaculate College,
Limerick.