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Updated 9am.
THERE ARE WARNINGS of major disruptions for schools and students after teachers voted to stop working extra hours yesterday.
ASTI members voted overwhelmingly to withdraw from the 33 Croke Park hours by 68.5% to 31.5%.
The hours came into place in 2011. Croke Park hours are additional working hours that were brought in by the Croke Park and subsequently Haddington Road agreement.
However the Department of Education has released a statement saying that this may cause major disruption for students and schools:
We are concerned at the implications for individual teachers, and the implications for major disruption for students and schools from September if the ASTI proceeds with the proposed action.
A spokesperson for the ASTI said that the hours don’t involve students and are hours for work done outside of school time and outside of classroom time, adding that pulling out of these hours “won’t affect students’ learning” and “won’t force schools to close”.
ASTI President Máire G Ní Chiarba said that teachers believe the Croke Park hours are unproductive and impact negatively on students’ education:
The Croke Park hours are highly prescriptive and unproductive. Teachers believe that these hours are among the least productive tasks undertaken in schools and that they do not improve teaching and learning. Schools can function normally without the Croke Park hours, just as they did prior to their introduction.
She said that the situation was “exacerbated by cutbacks during austerity years” and then the introduction of Croke Park hours.
Ní Chiarba described the ballot result as a very strong statement from ASTI members to the government that they are determined to reclaim their terms and conditions following years of cuts and reduced resources:
“What teachers are saying is that they want to be able to get on with their jobs, instead of having to waste time completing bureaucratic box-ticking exercises. The Croke Park hours divert teachers’ time away from core duties such as teaching, learning, and building relations with their students.”
The Department of Education said it has invited the ASTI to discuss the hours but the invitation has not been accepted:
We regret that the ASTI has not as of yet accepted an invitation to meet with the Department to discuss their issues of concern, however this invitation remains open.
The ASTI has 17,500 members nationwide. The ballot turnout was 76%.
It is likely that the move will kick into place in September, but the ASTI’s standing committee will meet today to consider the outcome.
Additional reporting by Cliódhna Russell.
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Balloon violence has been observed in children as young as four
It’s an underlying problem in modern society..and its gonna burst
@Liam Meade: in the long term they only let themselves down
You call that news
@Michael Curran: I’m suprised it’s being reported as it shows support for Trump. Sorry this is a no no
@Michael Curran: should have mentioned LSU won 46-41
@Tony Stack: first time Bama lost at home in 4 years
Journal desperate for a Trump story i see.
Great to see it destroyed
@Punters Pal: punctured*
@Punters Pal:
‘He’ll be back’ … in my best Schwarzenegger voice
@Punters Pal: Should have burned it.
At this point even the Trump baby would win the presidential election the Democrats have failed miserably in finding someone to challenge the Republican.
@Bass demon: are you living in the real world or in your fantasy a Trump world?
@Gus Sheridan: hes probably right. The only chance they have is Bernie, but he wont be the runner against Trump.
American society is so polarised now. Part of a long process but Trump has really added to that. Obama before him was actually when the gloves came off. Many Americans didn’t view him as their president and the criticism was caustic. I don’t how they walk back at this stage as both sides are talking past each other.
@lambda sensor:
Sorry but the GOP has take the blame for a vast majority of the toxic politics. Every time we got to a low they went lower.
WMDs in Iraq
Obstruction of anything Obama did
Ben Gazi investigations
Trump election
Supporting Trumps actions
Etc….
Remember Obama tried to work with the initials but OConnell was deep into making him one term and the country had to suffer for that
@lambda sensor: The problem is the political system that demands exclusive membership to either one. It has become such an important and tribal aspect of peoples identities. Instead of respecting other American political points of view, they are identifying it as a point of difference and disagreement.
This is exacerbated by the way politics operates, instead of a political party deciding on an internally elected leader, a leader is picked by the public and the party works around them.
These are definitely contributing factors to the current polarisation.
Alabama is the deep south where trump’s biggest supporters are what did they expect.would be like blowing up a mock balloon of Barack Obama and going to Detroit.
@dick dastardly: I agree. Loved the idea of having it there though.
@dick dastardly:
They are allowed to do it and 37% of Alabama didn’t vote for him…
Should 37% of the people remain silent because they are the minority?
@DK Innovation: Did you google that
I don’t wanna burst yer balloon but….
@Liam Meade: I’m feeling deflated.
It’s Alabama though. They love their republican heritage there.
And their sisters.
Trump for 2020. Conservativeism is on the rise all over the world . Praise God. Snowflakes melting .
State of the world , Thousands of people killed in USA wars and the news is a trump balloon got slashed ! What media brain drain .
An orange man with really tiny hands was seen scurrying away from the nearby grassy knoll…
Just a load of hot air
It was a beautiful balloon, a perfect balloon
If only the headline could delete the words inflatable, baby, balloon, and deflated…now the rest that would be some wonderful news headline worth reading about.
@RobPup: slightly unhinged remark
@Vote4Pedro: unhinged like your president?
@RobPup: unhinged like a schiz
@Declan Edward: ah, like your president so.
@Declan Edward: and good job using hateful, insulting and derrogatory spit-words like “schiz”. Schizophrenia is a very serious mental health condition which isn’t fun for those who suffer it or their families. Even in your speech you resemble your beloved president full of hate the moment someone says anything about your supremo.
@RobPup: your so edgy
@RobPup: isn’t it hateful to wish that someone is stabbed?
My two year old popped a balloon yesterday. Cant get over it.
Stabbed it in the back… Are we sure he was a Trump supporter??
Where are the video’s of this atrocity??
On the plus side, moving away from guns and reverting to knives is a step in the right direction.
R.I.P
Arent they all dumb southerners or is that just jeff sessions?
@Simon O Flaherty: the region has the poorest literacy scores in the USA. Mississippi being no 1. No wonder there is so much support for that colossally ignorant man- child
@Freddie Rincon: the type of people who think that not reading makes you smart!
@Freddie Rincon: wonder if you would say the same about the ‘uneducated’ Catholic Irish when they first got to vote in this country?
He has to go to the rednecks for some love. Sad!
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