Section 30 of Teaching Council Act is to be implemented fully: Protest Cancelled

The Department of Education and Skills has confimred that Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act will be implemented fully and unammended. The organised protest by District 14/15 for WEDNESDAY 15th has been CANCELLED.
Along with other contributing factors, the fact that INTO Members and NQT's were willing to mobilise will certainly have stood as one main reason for this decision. It also comes in-line with a motion passed at Congress 2011, thus becoming a directive, where the CEC and INTO, through member votes, decided that INTO Members should only work alongside Qualified Personnel.
We at the INTO NQT Group, District 14, would like to thank all those who gathered to plan for the protest, worked towards it in schools, and all those who pledged to be there on the day. We also thank and commend those who supported us by commenting or liking on Facebook for example.
While this may be seen as a victory, lets keep focussed on other tasks at hand also.
INTO Website News link for some details...

Voice- Task Force on Employment Submissions:
One way of voicing your opinion and seeing that you can go towards making a difference is by making a submission to the INTO Task Force on Teacher Employment. The deadline is 5pm on 1st of July 2011. Click here for details, forms and further information.

INTO District 14 Protest at Dáil Éireann

PROTEST, WEDNESDAY 15TH JUNE, DÁIL ÉIREANN,@ 4PM

Protest organised by District 14/15, against Unqualified Personnel in Irish Classrooms. With thousands of unemployed teachers-there should be NO unqualified personnel in our classrooms.
Minister Ruairí Quinn needs to implement unamended Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act.
ALL PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS AND INTO MEMBERS ARE URGED TO ATTEND, ALSO ANYBODY WHO IS INTERESTED IN OUR CHILDREN BEING EDUCATED BY QUALIFIED TEACHERS

10% Cut to Special Needs Resource Teachers

On Wednesday 1st June, the Department of Education announced cuts of 10% to the amount of hours allocated to a school for children with Special Educational Needs. On the ground, this is a cut from 25 hours to 22.5 hours, for example. This is putting further strain on the mainstream classroom environment where huge efforts are made to include every child in education as a whole group. INTO General Secretary feels that this cut will hit those who have been most inclusive up until now.
These cuts will come into effect in September 2011, the beginning of the new academic year. Although the amount of resource teacer posts will be at 9,950, a rise of 350 since 2010, children with special educational neeeds will not be granted access to the provisions they need. A spokesperson from the Special Needs Parents Association says, 'We have taken enough cuts when it comes to Special needs already.'
Although the Department has not set this figure in stone, with a hint that it may rise the number of ours allocated if required, confidence in such measures should be low, as Minister Quinn has been ruthless since coming into power. From an NQT perspective, the main point is that the resources (Qualified Trained Teachers) are there to fulfill the provisions required by children with Special Educational Needs, but Government Policy is denying this provision.
Circular 0037/2011: Revised Arrangement for the Provision of Resource teaching Supports for 2011/2012

Task Force on Employment

A report is due on Teacher Un-Employment early in the next academic year. Further options, solutions and actions to tackle teacher un-employment will be included. There are 3 NQT Representatives and 1 Student Representative on the task force to ensure that NQT voices are heard, supported by other reps from several areas such as CEC, Principals, Education Centres and Head Office. They will work actively to form changes and solutions to increase teacher employment for NQT's. This task force is being set up after is was passed in a motion at Congress 2011, Sligo.