Teacher's Pet

An insider’s guide to education

- Predictably, the executivesof the various unions convened "emergency'' meetings in the past few days to consider the Budget cuts in their own pay.

But why have the three unions been so quiet on another pressing issue: the grip held by the Catholic Church on the management of schools?

The Murphy report – like the Ryan report before it – has stirred a very important debate on the Catholic Church’s huge power and influence in our education system.

The Catholic Church controls more than 3,000 of our 3,200 primary schools and more than 400 of our second-level schools. It has a key role in the appointment of school principals and the chairpersons of school boards of management. Prospective teachers are still asked if they subscribe to the Catholic ethos of a school – even though their employment opportunities outside the Catholic school sector are virtually non-existent.

Is the continuing power of the Catholic Church in our school system appropriate in the light of the various reports on child sexual abuse?

In an article in this newspaper, Mary Raftery wrote about how various priests had sourced their vulnerable young victims while working in various schools around Dublin.

You might think all of this would provoke some debate and even reflection from the teacher unions. The INTO, the ASTI and the TUI have an opportunity to play a leading role in this debate.

But so far the silence has been deafening.

- It was SenatorJoe O'Toole – in a rare gaffe – who famously likened the benchmarking process to an ATM for public servants.

After last week’s Budget, the ATM appears to have been closed.

For the average teachers, the pay cut will be about 6 per cent. But when you add in the impact of the 7 per cent pension levy, it makes for a cumulative 13 per cent pay cut. Essentially, it wipes out the 13 per cent awarded to teachers under the benchmarking process.

Expect plenty of huff and puff from the teacher unions in the next few weeks. But what are the options?

More one-day strikes are off the agenda, and no one in the Department of Finance is too bothered if teachers refuse to co-operate with school inspections or parent/teacher meetings.

The challenge facing the teacher unions is to bring meaningful disruption to the education sector – without risking their own pay.

But is there the stomach for a long protracted battle when every household and every family is desperately worried about their jobs?

- Is there asurprise in the offing at DCU?

The university will shortly unveil its new president. But the front runner for the post – UCD vice president (and northsider) Philip Nolan – withdrew from the contest last week.

Another leading internal candidate is also out of the race.

At this stage, a senior DCU researcher and an academic from Queen’s University Belfast are among those still in the hunt.

- The university presidentsadopted a low-key response to the Budget, with only a bland statement from their representative group, the Irish University Association.

Privately, of course, the presidents are seething about the continuing fall-off in funding at a time when the Government keeps rolling out those clichés about the Smart Economy.

TCD Provost John Hegarty is right. Given the current strain on resources, the whole issue of student contributions will have to be revisited before long.

But the universities are a victim of their own success. The striking success of Trinity, UCD and the rest in the latest world rankings left some key policymakers with the view that all is well on the campuses around the country.

Would someone wise them up?

Teacher’s Pet will return in January. E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irishtimes.com