Sir, - The way the teachers' hourly pay rate is being bandied about is distasteful, disrespectable, and grossly miscalculated. Does anyone out there have any idea what effort goes into one hour of teaching? Trying to control, engage, and actually teach 30 or more adolescents cannot have a comparable physical and mental counterpart in any other profession. Certainly other professions may peak at much higher energy output levels, but not continually in their workplace.
To expect teachers at secondary school level to teach for longer periods than they already do would be impossible. However, this would not inhibit them from engaging in other para-educational areas to extend their working days. Give them the option to work a 40-hour week on that basis, to work during school holidays - correcting exams, for example - and take their annual leave like the rest of us. But pay them accordingly.
Additionally, in every other area of work practice employees are rated on a performance level. The students themselves can easily distinguish between the different levels of teachers' abilities. Why can't the Department?
In a nutshell, pay these professionals a decent incentive wage, rate them on performance thereafter, and give them the option of working the normal working hours.
The Government should do this with some haste before parents consider their options. They, after all, are the taxpayers and ultimately are a very powerful force. Please God it will resolve this serious matter with haste and show these aspiring young students that we live in a climate where our Government can take full control. - Yours, etc.,
Frieda Keane Carmody, MB, BCh., Killaloe, Co Clare.