TUI Galway

Whole School Inspection (sorry, Whole School Evaluation) looms large on the agenda of the TUI annual congress. A composite motion from 10 branches "emphatically rejects the introduction of Whole School Inspection (WSI) and instructs the executive committee to resist Department of Education pressure to introduce WSI until such times as schools are properly resourced for such an inspection and schools are properly resourced to provide appropriate education by reduction of the pupil teacher ratio etc."

The motion further directs all members to "take no part in any form of WSI pilot project or any type of WSI until the format and the resourcing are agreed by a voting majority of TUI members."

A Whole School Evaluation pilot project has already begun in 12 schools, both primary and second-level. However TUI members are not participating until the debate at congress takes place. The motions were framed before the Department's second document on the process was circulated. The document, which was published in February, goes a certain way towards addressing TUI concerns, not least with the change of name from inspection to evaluation.

The TUI is also keen to highlight the increased bullying of teachers. A spokesman for the TUI says that the union is seeking a new and comprehensive circular from the Department setting out preventative measures to deal with the increasing number of bullying incidents and assaults.

A composite motion, by the executive committee and three branches, calls on the union executive "to investigate and ascertain the level of bullying and harassment against teachers with a view to formulating a policy document on bullying in the workplace. The executive should in the first instance seek information or a code of practice from the Department of Education re bullying in schools and colleges and also seek the co-operation of other teacher unions to this end."

The old staple of congresses, a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio, is also set to make its annual appearance in the form of a motion instructing the executive to actively negotiate, as a matter of urgency, a reinstatement of the 16.5:1 ratio which existed prior to 1983. The motion notes that the economic difficulties of the Eighties no longer exist. "The increase in PTR severely disadvantaged students in our schools."

The TUI spokesman says that falling enrolments due to the demographic decline present an opportunity to reduce class size.