We teachers have fulfilled our end of the bargain on public sector productivity

Sir, – As we face a probable second day of strike action, the Government’s relentless demand for more “productivity” remains the big sticking point. For teachers, Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s lecture is galling given our recent commitments under the dreaded Senior Cycle Redevelopment Implementation Support Measures agreement.

This contract extracts mandatory, unpaid hours and buries us in administrative overload, stealing the time needed for actual lesson preparation. We fulfilled our end of the bargain; the Government has ignored its own promises on pay, conditions and basic resources.

If the Taoiseach wants genuine productivity, he should address our bloated class sizes. Real educational productivity isn’t bureaucratic box-ticking – it is having fewer students in a room so we can actually teach and support young people individually.

Meanwhile, the push for rushed, under-resourced Senior Cycle reforms guarantees a poorer Leaving Certificate for future generations. This corner-cutting exercise sacrifices instructional time and mandates conformity across subjects, ignoring the fundamental differences in how distinct disciplines must be taught and assessed.

Students deserve better than a system that favours political optics over genuine improvement. It is high time the Government stopped lecturing us and started delivering on its obligations. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN O’REILLY,

Gorey,

Co Wexford.