A chara, - While your Editorial of April 9th on the teachers' conferences considered the prioritisation of the issue of pay in a balanced manner, I would like to inform readers that primary teachers at the INTO congress in Galway disposed of this issue in half-an-hour on Tuesday morning. Among the many other issues discussed by delegates between Monday and Thursday afternoons were the following: inadequacy of staffing and funding, in-service education, discipline problems, integration of pupils with special needs, socio-economic disadvantage in education, remedial provision, difficulties experienced by Gaeltacht schools, support services for children of refugees.
Your Editorial also addressed the issue of whole school evaluation and the objections raised by delegates attending the ASTI nd TUI conferences to a WSE pilot scheme. It may be helpful to point out that primary teachers, for whom whole school evaluation has been a reality for many years, raised no objections and the issue was not on the agenda in Galway. Each national school in the State undergoes a whole school inspection at least once in every four years, during which the work of every teacher is assessed, as well as that of the principal.
The inspection (known as a "Tuaraisc Scoile") assesses the quality of teaching and learning in each area of the curriculum as well as broader aspects of school management, organisation and planning. A copy of the inspector's report is subsequently sent to the board of management of the school, which has representatives from the partners in education: parents, teachers, patron and the wider community. Recommendations made can be considered in the context of an internal school review.
There is no evidence that primary teachers would be reluctant to accept changes in the present evaluation system, provided that assessors would continue to be appropriately qualified people and that any proposed changes would not involve crude and simplistic systems of comparison between schools. In fact, the willingness of primary teachers to embrace change and, indeed, to be agents for change is evident in their input and response to the proposed new/ revised curriculum. Further evidence of this willingness is seen in the implementation of information and communication technologies in primary schools (my own included), despite inadequate funding from the State.
Most teachers view innovation and change as part of professional development and are willing to undertake new methodologies and work practices without demanding additional pay. In fact, many have prepared themselves at their own expense. However, it is fair to expect that the Department of Education and Science will not shirk its responsibilities for providing proper in-service education. Furthermore, it is reasonable to expect that teachers will be adequately rewarded for the extra responsibilities and the increased time commitment involved in successfully implementing change. - Is mise,
Proinsias OhOGain, Priomhoide, Scoil San Treasa, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.