Teacher’s Pet
Faced with the decision by President Trump to divert $3.6 billion in military funding to pay for his border wall, the Pentagon announced it would bite the bullet.
It then promptly pulled money from schools and daycare centres for military families.
But the Department of Defense schools have responded to the raid on their resources by “closing ranks” to shield their English Language Leaners.
US military schools worldwide have pushed though the cuts in double-quick time. A total of 176 teaching posts have been cut and class sizes increased.
However, in military schools with more than 600 students, the ratio of ELL specialist teachers to students has actually gone down from one in 50 to one in 40 students.
So, it’s congratulation to the US military schools. Bravo Zulu (‘Well Done’), as they say in the US Navy.
Naughty Corner
“I get money,” sings rapper Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson. And 50 cents is all the money on the table in the hourly pay rise allegedly on offer to English Language teachers at Dublin City University (DCU), according to TheJournal.ie.
Fifty euro cents is said to have been the maximum offered by employer DCU Language School (DCULS), a for-profit company indirectly owned by the university. Last year DCULS donated its total profits of €743,000 to the university, according to its accounts. ‘Crack a Bottle,’ as 50 Cent would say.
DCU Teachers claim their pay has fallen from around €30 in 2008 to under €25.
After patiently waiting, they now want €35 an hour, in line with the rest of higher education.
The OECD found that in 2018, Irish primary teachers earned €36 per teaching hour, rising to €50 in secondary education.
Teachers now also want their holiday pay paid during their holiday, instead of rolled up in their monthly pay cheque. Love it or hate it, that is their right under EU law.
