Cork education: Students falling through cracks in system would benefit from smaller class sizes, conference hears 

Students who are falling through the cracks of the education system would benefit hugely from additional funding to bring down class sizes, an Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) conference on inclusivity in second-level schools heard.

Teachers at the conference heard from Cork’s Dr Richard Hogan on adolescent boys and toxic masculinity, as well as Megan Berry on members of the Travelling community in our schools, and Nicola Beagan on dealing with dyslexia and neurodiversity in the classroom.

Ireland is ranked last out of 34 countries for investment in second-level education as a proportion of country GDP as reported in the OECD publication, Education at a Glance 2024.

An Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland class size survey in 2020 found that average class size at Junior Cycle in Ireland is higher than both the OECD and EU averages.

In the survey, 85% of teachers agreed that class size often inhibits their capacity to deploy adequate differentiation strategies.

ASTI president Donal Cremin said: “Investment is required to reduce class size and improve access to supports such as guidance and counselling and specialist services, thereby helping schools to ensure all students can thrive.”

Cork teacher and member of the ASTI’s standing committee John Byrne told The Echo: “It was a very positive conference, we learned about three very different things that can be happening in schools and it was absolutely fascinating.

“We learned about dyslexia and dealing with it — people who are often above average intelligence can have difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, and sequential learning which can lead to a loss of self-esteem — and how to best support them.

“Only 13% of the Travelling community complete secondary school compared to 92% of non-travellers, and less than 1% go to third-level education.

“There can be an expectation that they’re not going to stay in school, but what works is just one good teacher — a role model that gives a bit of extra encouragement.”

Dr Horgan discussed how toxic masculinity can affect boy’s school performance, Mr Byrne said, explaining: “It can lead to negative thoughts like ‘I’m not good enough’.

“They think that if they study and don’t do well it will be worse, so they don’t study and it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy — they can use it as a protection.”

All three of these groups and many others benefit from smaller class sizes so the teacher can connect with them one-to-one, and much more investment is needed to give them the support they deserve, he said.