Teachers have warned that non-national students may be ghettoised unless the "huge increase" in their numbers is addressed in a positive way.
John MacGabhann, TUI's new assistant general secretary, said there was a high concentration of non-national students in certain schools due to a combination of national, social and economic factors.
"There is an acute lack of appropriate personnel to support this rapidly expanding student cohort," he said. One extra teacher is provided for the first 14 non-national students in a school and a second is provided when the number reaches 28. However, there is no further increase, so a school could have 100 non-national students but just two extra teachers to cope with the increased numbers.
"This ludicrous situation needs urgent revision and we demand a pro-rata increase in the teacher allocation in respect of students enrolled," he said.
Mr MacGabhann said there was confusion over who should teach English as a second language. Students from a non-English speaking background are entitled to up to two years of English language tuition but he said this was "an inadequate blunt instrument" as some students may need less tuition and others may need far more. He called for each case to be judged on its merits and said there should be a periodic standardised test to see how the student is progressing with the language.
Moreover, he pointed to the failure to tap into the students' prior education in their own countries. "It is de facto ignored," he said.
"While students from Kosovo or Poland may initially struggle with English, their level of mathematics or physics may be in line with or superior to the level of their Irish peers."
There were also specific cultural issues to be dealt with. Students may come from countries where corporal punishment is used to enforce discipline and they may be confused by the level of behaviour required of them in the absence of draconian punishment, Mr MacGabhann said.
TUI has supported the call for an amnesty from deportation for minors between the age of 18 and 21. "It ill behoves an affluent western country which prides itself on its openness and commitment to cultural diversity to leave these young people under the constant threat of removal from their new life," Mr MacGabhann said.
"To avoid the risk of ghettoisation, we as a nation need to address complex challenges that this presents, and we can learn from the successes and mistakes of other jurisdictions," he added.
