Sir, - Dr Richard Webb's comments on the ASTI pay claim (October 30th) are ill-informed. Why blame teachers if illiteracy rates are over 20 per cent? On an average school day the truancy rates are over 20 per cent. How can teachers teach absent pupils?
Ideally schools should be places where teachers, pupils and parents treat each other with respect. After 36 years in the classroom I have no difficulty in discerning the pupils whose parents have taught them to respect others. Troublesome pupils, as a rule, are the products of homes where manners are not taught.
Dr Webb comments on the short hours which teachers work in the classroom. Despite these short hours many children spend more time in the care of teachers and child-minders than with their own parents.
Discipline in the classroom is becoming a serious issue and parents should not undermine it. One disruptive pupil could jeopardise the work of an entire class. Teachers have a right to work and their pupils have a right to be educated.
Dr Webb is also incorrect when he says that continual assessment would reduce the pressure of the points system on students. The points system is determined by the availability of places in third-level colleges.
As an ASTI member, I would welcome well-informed comment on our pay claim. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Tobin, Rosscarbery, Co Cork.