NEW SYLLABUSES lie "gathering dust somewhere in the Department's offices" the TUI education and research officer told the union's annual congress was told yesterday.
Bernie Judge told delegates in Wexford: "For the Department to say that teachers are not willing to progress when teachers are disempowered when they want to modernise is actually quite hypocritical."
A new Leaving Cert art syllabus has still not been implemented a full four years after it was approved,she added.
Tim Corcoran, an art teacher and delegate from south Tipperary ,said: "I am teaching the same syllabus that I studied in school and I'm five years from retirement. It's difficult to modernise a subject when the syllabus is 30 years old."
There are strong indications that new syllabuses for architectural technology and engineering technology will also be delayed, despite promises guaranteeing implementation in 2008, according to Ms Judge.
Teachers are now concerned that by the time the syllabuses are implemented, they might well be obsolete.
Micheál Martin, a teacher of engineering technology in Largy College, Clones said: "The subjects I teach need to move with the times and the trends . . . Teachers are a long time waiting for this."
The syllabus from which Mr Martin and his colleagues currently work dates back to 1984 while a new curriculum for the subject has been ready for the past year and a half.
A lack of resources for the upgrading of facilities and professional development is the reason given by the Department for the delay in implementation. Ms Judge described this excuse as "pitiful."
"This is an insult not just to those involved in designing new syllabuses but to students, parents and the wider body of teachers:" she said.
"It's a false economy to say that the cost of professional development is not worth it."
Technology is a major new aspect of the new syllabi including art. Ms Judge questioned the Department's commitment to supporting the use of technology in the wider curriculum saying that the Department would not achieve its aims in that regard if it fails to act on this matter.
While acknowledging the importance of core subjects like mathematics, referring to the pilot maths curriculum announced by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin at the ASTI annual congress on Tuesday, Ms Judge said: "That curriculum is only being finalised now. If the Minister can find money to proceed with that, why can't she find the money for this?"
Ms Judge expressed concern about the idea that certain subjects would be favoured over others. "It really shouldn't be a trade-off. All subjects should be valued.
"You are either committed to reforming and modernising the education system and willing to invest in it or you're not.
She said she was seeking urgent clarification from Ms Hanafin.