Proposals to change the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) for secondary schools will cause "irreparable" damage to several key areas such as maths and physics.

This is the warning of general-secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland Annette Dolan, who stated such a move would threaten the survival of minority subjects.

"There is a common misconception that an increase in the PTR in second level schools only leads to one more pupil in classrooms," she said, noting the reality is "starkly different".

Ms Dolan explained that an increase from 19:1 to 20:1 would see a large school lose two teachers, or 66 hours of tuition per week, which will inevitably lead to less popular subjects being squeezed out.

The union representative said areas such as physics and maths, which are exactly the skills that need to be promoted to help drive the economy, would be among the worst affected.

"An increase in the PTR would do untold damage to this aspiration," Ms Dolan said.

Earlier this week, it was reported by the Irish Times that the government is considering increasing class sizes in order to save 75 million euros a year from the education budget.

Written by Donal Walsh
 

Comments