INTO President Carmel Browne opens the Annual Congress of Irish National Teachers’ Organisation in the Galmont Hotel, Galway.
Nearly 1,000 primary and special education teachers have gathered in Galway this week for the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s (INTO) Annual Congress.
Monday marked the start of the three-day conference which featured an address from Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee (FG), on Tuesday.
Resourcing, workload and staffing of the primary education system have been some of the areas causing growing frustration among teachers.
Debate and discussion centred around chronic underinvestment in primary education, unsustainable teacher workload, and an escalating teacher supply crisis.
Despite Ireland’s strong economic performance, primary schools remain underfunded compared to international standards. INTO General Secretary John Boyle described the situation as “untenable”, highlighting that over 250,000 pupils are in classes of 25 or more, and more than 100,000 children are waiting for essential therapies.
Primary school’s core grant, the capitation grant is €224 per pupil compared with €386 per student at post primary. “Our members are delivering exceptional results in under-resourced schools. Irish pupils rank at the top of the OECD in reading literacy, and yet their learning environments are stretched to the limit,” said Boyle. “It’s past time the Government recognised the real cost of primary education and allocated funding accordingly. We’re not calling for the impossible—just a 5% increase in the share of overall government spending to be allocated to the education sector by 2030. The children of this country deserve better. This echoes a similar call made by the union last year.”
INTO delegates called for a reduction in class sizes to improve learning conditions, and guaranteed substitute cover for all teacher absences. The government has conceded to the union’s campaign to cut class sizes to 19:1, but action is needed in the forthcoming budget to deliver on this commitment.
Over the Easter weekend, Minister McEntee announced that national education therapeutic services will begin rolling out in special schools in the next academic year, starting with speech and language and occupational therapy, with the new scheme expanding to schools with special classes from the 2026/27 academic year. This was welcomed by the INTO who flagged that for this initiative to be truly effective, it must be made available to all primary and special schools and has to include all wraparound services. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, counselling and psychological supports must be made available to every primary and special school. The INTO will continue to press for a comprehensive and fully resourced approach that meets the real needs of pupils with additional needs, their families and their schools.
Increasing workload is proving concerning for INTO members. Delegates called for protected time for in-service training and school development planning, particularly in relation to the redeveloped primary curriculum, alongside additional supports for school leaders. “Our job is to teach, but too often, teachers are being pulled in every direction,” Boyle noted. “Workload has become unsustainable, and that’s affecting recruitment, retention, and the wellbeing of our members. Unless this is taken seriously, industrial action is a real possibility”.
An INTO workload survey published by the union in 2023, completed by over 4,000 teachers and 1,100 school leaders, paints a stark picture of an increasingly unsustainable profession – one characterised by excessive demands, poor planning at national level, and a growing sense of burnout.
Among the findings were, nine out of ten primary teachers report struggling with excessive workload, with the teaching role described as increasingly “stressful”, “demanding”, and “inflexible”. Principals work an average of 600 additional hours per year outside normal school time, including an average of 15 extra hours weekly during term time and nearly 8 hours weekly during holidays.
Teachers cite a bureaucratic burden of paperwork which delivers no tangible benefit to teaching and learning. The profession is overwhelmed by a flood of initiatives, an overcrowded curriculum, and a lack of support structures. School leaders are facing serious consequences for their health and wellbeing, amid growing frustration with the Department of Education’s failure to support schools effectively.
Thousands of teaching posts currently remain unfilled each day, with schools in urban areas, DEIS schools, Gaelscoileanna, and special schools facing the greatest strain. Nearly 9,000 unqualified people are taking classes based on information provided by the Department of Education, a clear example of the extent of the crisis.
