As the school year begins this week, second-level teachers, parents and management bodies are shaping up for a confrontation with the Government over teacher shortages and class sizes.
In an unprecedented show of unity, the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Parents' Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges (PAVSCC) came together yesterday to demand the restoration of the second-level pupil-teacher ratio to 1983 levels.
They also demanded additional teachers to compensate for teaching hours lost due to the appointment of extra assistant principals to take on school management duties.
Meanwhile, the secondary teachers' union, ASTI, has warned of industrial action unless the Government "moves to provide for significantly increased staffing levels by the end of this year".
It expressed anger that, at the start of a new school year, "teachers are now being removed from the classroom in 800 second-level schools to undertake new administrative work without any indication that the Government will provide new teachers to take over in the classroom".
At the same time, the Joint Managerial Body, which represents denominational secondary school managers, has warned that the new assistant principals will not be able to carry out their administrative duties properly unless their teaching time is further reduced and replacement teachers are taken on.
The new assistant principals will get up to four hours off teaching duties to carry out their administrative work. However, the Department of Education has no plans to provide extra teachers to cover for them.
At a joint press conference yesterday, the IVEA general secretary, Mr Michael Moriarty, said the loss of four teaching hours per assistant principal's post would involve the loss of a total of 1,550 teaching hours in the vocational sector, or the equivalent of 70 full-time teacher posts.
The equivalent of 25 more posts would be lost in community schools. The worst-hit areas would be Dublin city and Co Cork, which would both lose the equivalent of at least seven teachers.
"This loss of teaching time will translate into subjects being dropped and will effectively prevent schools from meeting the comprehensive curriculum needs of our students," said Mr Moriarty.
He called it "a cutback by the back door - penalising students by such a cutback in teaching time is a scandal which must be deplored in an era when the Government has an embarrassment of tax riches".
The TUI general secretary, Mr Jim Dorney, said the broader problem was that the pupil-teacher ratio had not improved since 1983, when Government financial cutbacks led to it being raised from 16.5:1 to 19:1, with a loss of 750 teachers. "The State doesn't have any financial problems now, so it's time these problems were addressed," he said.
Asked about possible industrial action in support of their demands, Mr Dorney said they were ruling nothing out.
The president of the PAVSCC, Mr Michael O'Reagan, warned that one consequence of the current teacher shortages would be that school principals would start cutting back on the school day.
A Department of Education spokesman said additional teachers to cover for people promoted to assistant principals posts was "never part of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work agreement".
However, he stressed that, as was usual at the beginning of the school year, any school with staffing allocation problems could appeal to the Department, which would deal with such appeals on a school by school basis.