"The threat of closure arose from tasks usually undertaken every day by these vital staff going undone. School managers were warning administration was piling up on the office desk and rubbish was piling up in the school yard as the backroom staff were on strike. Thankfully, there was a breakthrough and the trade union Fórsa has withdrawn strike action after an agreement was reached to engage in negotiations to resolve the dispute."
"But back to what's happening inside the classroom, and a study by the Irish Independent shows average class sizes in primary schools have fallen to their lowest level in over a quarter of a century. The downward trend in enrolments in primary schools has resulted in the average class size dropping to 22.2 pupils per class - down from 22.5 in 2023/24."
Backroom school staff strike caused daily administrative tasks to go undone, with administration piling on office desks and rubbish accumulating in schoolyards, threatening potential closures. The trade union Fórsa withdrew strike action after an agreement to enter negotiations covering comparable pension entitlements for school secretaries and caretakers, a pay framework for caretakers, bereavement leave, sick leave and acute illness protocols. Parental concerns about prolonged school closures were allayed. Average primary class sizes fell to 22.2 pupils, the lowest in almost 30 years, with Deis schools averaging 20 pupils and non-Deis 23.1, influenced largely by demographic changes.
Read at Irish Independent
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