Latest Budget climbdown - uncertified sick days

[JollyRedGiant]

You could retrain. Or emigrate.

Done both already - and have a family who are settled.

I've seen it. It doesn't happen. Especially not in December, June, July or August.

Well I won't get paid for Christmas and I work all summer.

Didn't say it would. But the hourly rate is out of kilter with the pay of teachers across Europe. I'd rather see more of them work longer hours for a lower rate. People like you would have the security of a full time position and kids would benefit.

If you lower the rate and gave me a full-time job are you saying that I should work as a teacher for less than €34,000 per year. A figure which incidentally is not higher than the rest of Europe. And the net result would be the same thing that has happened in the past - the best teachers would leave the job because they could get more money elsewhere.

Oh, as a PAYE worker I pay the full cost alright. And I can tell you, just from interacting with my child's friends' parents, that for every millionaire's kid in the school there are ten families struggling to keep their kid there. Maybe not to the extent I do, but they're all struggling to do it.

So let them get on the streets as well and demand the government properly fund education. If there are so many they should swell the current demonstrations quite significantly.

That was my experience. A number of schools insisted that my child had to have an older relative like a sibling or parent have previously attended to be considered for a place. Then they went and handed out places to non-national kids.

It is standard practice for schools with a shortage of places to only allow siblings of existing students to attend. And there have been numerous cases of schools using the 'religious ethos' of the school to prevent immigrant children from getting in.

Again the problem isn't that immigrant children are causing the problem - they are victims as well - it's than the government have spent the money on boosting the profits of their developer friends instead of investing in schools and teachers - and as long as people suggest that the problem is caused by the number of immigrants it let's the government off the hook.

I suspect the difference is that I'm not in a position to claim institutional racism and go crying to the Equality Authority when a school refuses my child a place.

try institutional neglect.

And the fact they failed to make provision for importing literally thousands of kids beyond what they had projected would be the cohort of school age children.

We agree.

The state does not fund private schools. It pays teachers' wages. Private schools receive less money than public schools from the state.

approximately 80% of the total cost.

Maybe if the state had ever taken education seriously, instead of leaving it up to churches and private groups of citizens, we'd be in a different place too.

the wealthy will always want their private schols so they can 'educate' their kids properly without being contaminated with the riff-raff. And remember the Jesuits were the people who founded private schools to educate the sons of the nobles and merchants in order to secure support of the ruling elites for Catholicism. They continue today educating among other people like David Begg - head of ICTU.

Quit the histrionics. They add nothing to your case. You don't pay for David Drumm's son's education and neither do I. David Drumm does. And he's still got nothing to do with teachers.

I do and so do you if he sends his kids to a private school where the teachers are paid by the state.

I've done more than most to oppose the cuts in education.

glad to hear it - keep it up - the pressure is having an impact.

No, they aren't. Repeating it doesn't make it any more true. Private schools receive less funding per child than public schools.

but would you agree that not every child has an opportunity to attend a private fee-paying school? and if that is the case why should universal taxes (primarily from the PAYE sector as they pay most of the tax) be used to fund any of it. The money should be spend on schools that are open and available to all children.

This is where you completely lose the run of yourself. Your taxes don't fund the private education of anyone. Since wealthy individuals likely pay a lot more tax than you, it is undoubtedly true that they subsidise your children's education rather than the other way around.

Really - five of the ten wealthiest people in the country didn't pay any tax last year. Tax breaks, tax amnesties, tax dodges offshore accounts and accountants make sure that the wealthy pay a minute amount of tax on their income compared to PAYE workers. Most of these people have been coining it on the backs of people who were forced to pay ridiculous prices for houses and get caught with huge mortgages. It the nature of capitalism the rich get richer on the backs of PAYE workers.

And in any case, as I've already said, the vast majority of parents with children at my child's school are certainly not wealthy and are making great sacrifices because they wish to guarantee a decent education for their children.

Be interesting to see what the situation will be like in 12 months when we are back in the economic conditions of many moons ago. We might even see some private schools going bankrupt (if the government don't bail them out while they are sacking teachers)