ASTI raises concerns on new promotion system

ASTI, THE union representing 17,000 secondary school teachers, has raised concerns about a new promotion system based on merit.

It has signalled to Department of Education officials it will not accept any fundamental change to the current system whereby promotional posts are awarded on the basis of seniority in schools.

At present, promotion posts - worth up to €9,000 per annum for senior teachers - are offered to "the most senior suitable candidate".

In practice, this means the post must be given to the most senior candidate - even if a colleague is seen as more impressive by management.

The national pay agreement Towards 2016 commits the teaching unions to reform the promotion system. But the ASTI signalled it would not tolerate the abolition of the seniority rule during discussions with Department of Education officials earlier this week. The department has been pushing to abolish the seniority rule for over a decade.

Yesterday, Clive Byrne, president of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, said the current promotion system is "the biggest single barrier to the effective management of schools''.

Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe has also signalled his anger with the ASTI stance.

Speaking in the Dáil earlier this week, he said: "It is simply no longer acceptable. . . for promotion that the past should be used as a guide to the future. The current adherence to having seniority determine who is appointed is well past its sell-by date. . . promotion procedures must set out to select candidates on merit."

The Minister said he was concerned to learn "in briefing from my officials that progress has been slow on many of these commitments and that timelines set in the agreement have slipped. . . This is not acceptable; parents as taxpayers are entitled to see delivery on these commitments in return for the pay increases that they are funding."

Promotion in primary, vocational and community and comprehensive schools is largely based on merit with some weighting for experience. While some weighting is given to seniority in all teaching promotions, it is the key deciding factor in secondary schools and therefore a hugely sensitive issue for the ASTI. Last night, the ASTI would make no comment on the promotions dispute.

The ASTI closed schools during its pay campaign five years ago. Since then, the union has rejoined the Ictu and it has been adopting a much more moderate stance. But some in the union fear that any "concession'' on the seniority issue could give a fillip to its more militant wing.