Immigrant parents joined teachers in Ballyfermot recently to protest against the Government’s cuts to primary education.
Staff at Mary Queen of Angels and St Louise schools in the area took to the streets on 24 February along with pupils, parents and trade union representatives to highlight the changes in Government policy on primary schools – which include increasing class sizes, ending substitute cover and reducing assistance for special needs.
Agnieszka Matys, who has children attending both schools, said: “I got a letter from one school and decided to join the protest to show that we care about teachers losing jobs.
“Given that the Government has just supported the banks, the savings made on education look bad. I am concerned about the increase in class sizes and the reduction of special education needs assistance.”
She added: “Teaching generally will be affected, which won’t be good for students who learn more quickly, and pupils who need different teaching methods might be disadvantaged.”
Matys also expressed her disappointment that the issue of axing language support teachers was not raised during the protest, noting that immigrant parents might not be fully aware of the nature of the cuts and how it will affect their children.
Worries about the future of language support are greatest in schools with high numbers of non-English-speaking children.
As recently as 2008, 27,540 PPS numbers were allocated to non-Irish nationals aged under 17. Among these, there were 11,996 children of Polish origin.
Although many of these children come to Ireland with some English, it is argued that continued language support is vital to ensure their future educational success. As the existing entitlement to a maximum of six support teachers will be capped at two from September this year, some parents are worried.
Agnieszka Matys explained: “My children benefited greatly from language support. It increased their social confidence at school and improved their results.
“For my daughter Martynka, the first few months were really challenging. At the beginning [when Martyna was three years old], I used to write notes for her in English which she could pass to a teacher if she needed to use the toilet or if she didn’t feel well – that’s how we communicated.
“It was also difficult for her not being able to talk to other girls, and share with them how she spent a weekend.”
Jolanta Piołunowska shared similar fears. She values the existing system of communication between teachers, support teachers and parents as it enables them to identify areas where children may need improvement.
“Thanks to language support, my daughter’s spelling test results have improved. But I worry that without proper support she won’t do as well, that she won’t get into a good secondary school and she will have a bad start in life. It’s actually frightening to envisage.
“We could have a private teacher but neither my daughter or I will be able to identify and express what areas need improvement in relation to the language needed to access the curriculum.”
PioÅ‚unowska added: “My son starts school next year, and I don’t know how he will manage without proper language support. Every child in the classroom will lose out because of these cuts.”
Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has promised that a circular on the issue will be sent out to schools in the near future. But for now, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of language support among immigrant parents.
