Donal Carey
Question:25 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Education the reason vocational teachers have to work longer weekly hours than their counterparts in other post-primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Teaching Hours Dispute.
Phil Hogan
Question:38 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Education the reason vocational teachers have to work longer weekly hours than their counterparts in other post-primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Michael Lowry
Question:78 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Education the reason vocational teachers have to work longer weekly hours than their counterparts in other post-primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Theresa Ahearn
Question:86 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Education the reason for her lack of action on the Teachers Union of Ireland dispute which is causing loss of teaching hours to students; the plans, if any, she has for the provision of additional teachers to ensure that no further loss of teaching hours occurs; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 25, 38, 78 and 86 together. I wish to reject the suggestion that there has been lack of action on my part in relation to this particular issue. It is, and has been, regarded as a very serious matter and strenuous efforts have been made to have it resolved.
There are differences in the conditions of service of teachers in the three post-primary sectors. The number of hours which a teacher is required to teach is just one element of these conditions and it is not appropriate that this one element should be dealt with in isolation.
The shortfall in the service to which the Deputy refers amounts to approximately 2.4 per cent in total in teaching hours. The shortfall has arisen as a direct result of the unilateral action of the Teachers Union of Ireland. There has been no agreement on the reduction of teaching hours for vocational teachers. There can be no question of making good this shortfall in present circumstances. The cost involved would be in excess of £2 million in a full year. I cannot justify the expenditure of this amount to make up a small loss of teaching service when there are so many other pressing needs in the education sector particularly as the voluntary secondary sector and the community and comprehensive school sectors are operating on a maximum of 22 hours teaching per week. Vocational education committees are being instructed to take the necessary steps to ensure that their authorised teacher allocations for the 1993-94 school year are not exceeded.