"Teachers and principals are struggling with the excessive workloads in primary and special schools". That's according to Deirdre O'Connor, Deputy General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, who was speaking to Northern Sound after a report was published this morning.
The publication found that nine out of 10 teachers say the job has become more "stressful, demanding, challenging and inflexible" over the last five years. Ms O'Connor says that administration has become a problem and teachers now have to spend "too much" time on paper work.
She added they are also dealing with high expectations that are associated with the sector at the present time. "There is an expectation that we'll deliver a broad curriculum; that children will come to school; and that while they are in school, all kinds of issues in society will be addressed by teachers and by schools.
"There is also our curriculum which is quite overcrowded and there are lots of demands for different things. That includes people wanting children to learn about sustainable development or learn a modern foreign language.
"And, then the Department of Education comes along with new initiatives - for example numeracy or literacy - and there is workload associated with that," Ms O'Connor said.
