Nobody wants to see teachers go on strike but preparations are being made, Minister says

Nobody wants to see teachers going out on strike next week, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton has said, but preparations are being made in the event schools close as scheduled on Wednesday.Almost all schools across the country are likely to close on Wednesday October 14th and again on Wednesday October 21st, as teaching unions join the escalation of a public service-wide dispute over pay.An additional €1.2 billion was included in the budget on Tuesday for public service pay increases, but unions say this is not enough to move the dial and displays a lack of seriousness on the Government’s behalf to go into negotiations.The school closures will have a significant impact on both parents and students over the coming weeks, as well as school management. READ MOREThere is no guarantee that closures will end after this, or that negotiations will begin.“We wrote to schools just yesterday about preparing and communicating with parents in the event of strike action. We’re also in contact with school transport services as well,” Naughton said on Friday. “But I have to say, none of us want to be in a position where people are going on strike and our teachers are striking. We really need people to sit around the table to resolve this.” Asked whether the record funding her department received in the budget this week was enough to ensure every child had access to an appropriate school place next year and that school building projects could be progressed, the Minister said they were now able to forward plan better.“But there will be children who will come forward throughout the year, and even after 2027, who will need additional supports. We have factored that in, but it is a demand-led department,” Naughton said.In relation to school building projects, where many schools in various states of disrepair across the country remain stuck on waiting lists for upgrade works, the Minister said they are “working through the next list of schools to go to tender and construction”.“Those who are on the list [to go to construction] are happy, but there’s also those who want to get on, and I’m absolutely acutely aware of that. So we are moving at pace through that,” Naughton said. The Minister was speaking at the final day of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) annual conference in Galway city. The conference heard of the increasing administrative burden being placed on school principals and their deputies in the handling of State interventions such as the free schoolbooks scheme. “School leaders are smothered by an avalanche of paperwork,” NAPD president Brian Doran told delegates. He said the organisation was seeking an administrative officer in every school to alleviate this. Responding to those concerns, Naughton said the department is currently running a pilot programme where a select number of schools are receiving an administrative support role, and this will inform decisions made around what extra supports are needed. School principals also raised the issue of the CAO points system for college entry and the impact this is having on secondary school teaching and the children trying to navigate it. The race for points and a college place has created an “education economy” where students feel they need to pay for grinds and online platforms in order to get an advantage, Doran said.“The CAO tail continues to wag the dog of senior cycle. Too many students now think: if it doesn’t count for CAO points, it doesn’t count at all,” he told delegates.“Education becomes a competition where paying for additional supports and tuition is the price of keeping pace,” Doran said.A significant change in how the system works is needed in order to ensure CAO points do not become the overriding purpose of young people’s education, he said.