ETB tutors get two weeks’ notice of cut to their hours

Tutors have been given as little as two weeks’ notice that their hours are being cut as Education and Training Board courses are deferred until 2027, Cork County Council has heard.

Social Democrats councillor Isobel Towse said the cuts affect more than English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programmes. She said tutors and adult educators with the Education and Training Board (ETB) had received letters stating that courses would be deferred because of budget constraints.

“There’s a fear that their courses won’t actually renew next year,” Cllr Towse said.

She said the loss of courses meant lost income for tutors and fewer opportunities for people hoping to attend classes.

The cuts are often presented as affecting ESOL courses, which received temporary funding for language and integration classes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, Cllr Towse said she had seen correspondence showing that other programmes were also affected.

“Many courses will be deferred to 2027, including Back to Education Initiative courses and community education courses,” she said, “not just the language ones.”

Cllr Towse called on the council to write to the Minister for Further and Higher Education seeking clarification on the impact of the funding changes on other courses and whether further cuts were planned. She said tutors whose hours or courses had been cut should be compensated until classes resumed.

The council heard that local adult and community education programmes are particularly important for people returning to work after illness, those who are unemployed and people who cannot easily travel to larger education centres.