Press Releases

INTO Calls for EAL Support

Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Statement by Sheila Nunan, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers' Organisation, on Newcomer Children
 
Government is failing newcomer children by cutting teaching support.
 
The INTO today warned that hundreds of jobs could go in primary schools because of government cutbacks in the number of English Language Teachers (EAL) for newcomer children. The union said last year government cut nearly 500 of these teaching jobs in primary schools by increasing the number of children needed for a school to get a teacher and limiting English language teaching to two years.
 
The union said it feared a similar number of jobs could go again this summer based on calls to its Head Office from schools in all parts of the country losing teachers.
 
The union said it had many examples of schools where the number of pupils without English was increasing while the number of teachers was being cut. The union accused the Department of Education and Skills of adopting a hardline approach to filling these posts which took no account of the needs of pupils. 
 
Sheila Nunan, General Secretary of the INTO said: “Two years teaching is only enough for children to develop surface understanding of a language and conversational competence. To get to a standard where newcomer children can learn subjects like science and geography through English takes a further five to seven years.”
 
She also said that because class sizes in Irish primary schools are the second highest in Europe newcomer children do not get opportunities for social interaction in the classroom with native speakers impact on language acquisition.
 
Ms Nunan also criticised the lack of teacher training in the area. “Other countries are training their teachers for these jobs. We are putting them on the dole.”
 
She said because of government cutbacks newcomer pupils will be educated in environments that limit their personal, intellectual and social development. She warned that this will have significant implications for these children and for future societal integration.
 
Ms Nunan said English Language Assessment Kits for primary schools to measure and record children’s language ability had been developed at great cost to the Department. “The Department is now choosing to ignore these tests which show the need for extra teaching. Instead a minimal time provision has been provided.”
 
The INTO said primary schools enrol children living in the area regardless of ethnic origin or background. It said where there are language needs, the state must provide teachers to teach English to those children.
 
“Current government policy in this area has nothing to do with meeting children’s English language needs. It is a crude mechanism to cut jobs from primary schools and nothing else,” said Ms Nunan.
 
She said the policy would be devastating for schools with international children and called for more flexibility to be shown to schools.

ENDS