O'Keeffe: Union directive is closing door on students

A TEACHERS' union has been accused by Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe of closing the door on students who it claims are being kept out of further education courses by Government limits. The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) last week called for the funding cap of 33,500 places on Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses to be lifted, as soaring unemployment has led to an unprecedented 60,000-plus applications.

But Mr O'Keeffe said the union's directive that members should not teach classes of 30 or more students means places on the same courses are being restricted.

The TUI's second-level members include teachers in further education colleges, which are managed and funded the same way as second-level schools.

"The TUI has extended the directive into PLC classes and has said you couldn't have more than 30 in one class. But look at the universities, you could have 300 in a class in certain subjects for people doing a BA degree," he said.

"Yet they [the TUI] tell me there are 60,000 people who would like to be part of PLC courses. I say to them, you are impacting on the opportunity for young students to get involved in PLC studies.

"You should look at the damage you're doing to those people and the opportunities you are denying those people and you should immediately review a directive that is absolutely not in the interest of the students that you always say you espouse," the minister added.

Mr O'Keeffe said the Government has already funded an extra 1,500 PLC places for jobseekers who want to improve their qualifications. But he has told his department to contact PLC colleges and city and county Vocational Education Committees (VECs) which run them to find out their drop-out rates, which he said runs from 20% to 40%.

"A college could take 30 students into a PLC course and before a month is out, 10% or 20% of the students could be gone. Principals are angry because the TUI won't allow them take in 10 or 20 extra students [to a college], knowing there will be enough places at the end of the day for those students in the classroom."

The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), which represents the 33 VECs, said it was surprised and disappointed by the TUI directive and that it will have a considerable impact on PLC places.

"The policy might be in place a long time but what is different this time are the procedures being applied, they leave no room for manoeuvre and there's an insistence by TUI on a cap on student numbers," said IVEA general secretary Michael Moriarty.

"There's always a need to take in more students, around 3,000 extra were taken in last year, irrespective of whether they were funded or not," he said.

"People got on with doing their best and took in as many as they could."