PLC courses to lose 129.36 teaching hours due to cuts

PLC courses to lose 129.36 teaching hours due to cuts


Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

THE decision by the government to increase the pupil teacher ratio in PLC courses will result in the loss of 5.88 teaching staff and the equivalent loss of 129.36 teaching hours according to Mayo VEC.
The 2013 Budget revealed proposals to increase the pupil teacher ratio for PLC classes from 17:1 to 19:1 and that the VEC budget was to be reduced by €13.2 million. The increase in the ratio was raised at last week’s monthly meeting of Mayo VEC with Dr Katie Sweeney, the CEO of Mayo VEC, describing the changes as one of the most worrying items in the education budget and was a blow to PLC centres in the county.
Dr Sweeney read out a letter sent to the Minister of Education by the Irish Vocational Education Association on behalf of the VEC’s which outlined how the increase will affect the PLC courses.
The letter revealed that the ratio increase will result in the loss of 5.88 teaching staff and 129.36 teaching hours and will curtail the ability to take on extra courses and results in the loss of five programmes in one centre alone.
The measure was described by the IVEA as ‘short-sighted’ and at odds with the Department’s SOLAS education authority which was designed to ‘ensure the provision of 21st century high-quality further education and training programmes to jobseekers and other learners’.
The IVEA General Secretary, Michael Moriarty wrote that the VEC sector was under pressure to provide further education services and the increase diminished the capacity to deliver in his sector and asked for the increase to be reversed.
The members of the VEC criticised the Minister’s decision with Sinn Féin councillor Therese Ruane describing the decision as a ‘regressive move’ and commented that PLC’s were the ‘pathway back to education’ for a number of people and it would have an impact on Mayo.
Pat Kilbane said he supported the letter from the IVEA and hoped the letter will have the desired affect.
Cllr MicheΡl McNamara said there was a ‘huge demand’ for PLC courses in Mayo and added that VTOS courses were also affected. He said he was concerned about the direction Minister Quinn was taking in education and claimed change was happening too quickly without time for teachers to retrain.
Ballina Fianna FΡil councillor Johnny O’Malley claimed that the ratio increase ‘flies in the face of what the budget was supposed to be about, creating jobs and getting the country back to work’. He said PLC courses were important for people trying to get work and this ‘showed a lack of responsibility to people who want to work’.
Westport Fine Gael councillor Christy Hyland hit back of Cllr O’Malley saying that while he was against the cuts, he said the country was ‘a basket case’.
“It’s broke, I don’t agree with the cuts which will affect people. But the country’s broke, what do you do. The country is going cap in hand to run the country. Give us another way,” he said.
When Cllr Ruane said they were given plenty of ways but the government would not listen, Cllr Hyland replied that he will not be ‘getting lessons from you’.
VEC Chairman, Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said he did not want the issue to be politicised and said he agreed with the position to challenge the cuts. However he said cuts had to be made and that it was a ‘balancing matter’.

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