TEACHER HOLIDAYS and the length of the school day will be unaffected by the Croke Park deal, the Department of Education said yesterday.
The department issued the clarification to the teacher unions as more than 50,000 teachers prepare to vote on the deal this week.
The Croke Park deal promises a review of the teaching contract before next September.
In a memo to the teacher unions, assistant secretary of the department Pat Burke confirmed “the primary focus of the contract review will be to ensure full availability of the required class contact hours and 167 days in post-primary schools and 183 days in primary schools for the delivery of tuition while providing for those activities and functions integral to the functioning of the school (eg school planning, continuous professional development) without intrusion upon tuition time”.
In practice, this means in-service training and school development planning must be completed during school time.
But the memo also makes it clear teachers will not be obliged to remain on the school premises between 9am and 5pm, a common practice in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Both the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) are recommending rejection of the Croke Park deal. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) is backing the deal. It is widely expected the TUI will reject the deal and the INTO will endorse it in the postal ballot which begins today.
Attention has begun to focus on the ASTI where the outcome is less certain. ASTI officials predict a 60:40 rejection of the deal but say the latest clarification – and events in Greece – could build support for the deal.
Opponents of the deal say the Croke Park deal will give the department carte blanche to fundamentally change teachers’ working conditions.
In a notice on the ASTI website, general secretary John White and president Joe Moran say it is “very important that all members are made aware of this clarification so that they are fully informed before voting”.
The review of the teaching contract has generated great unease among teachers, because of its broad nature. The department is hoping the new clarification will build support for the Croke Park deal on pay and reform in the public service.
Minister for Education Mary Coughlan told teaching unions last month she had no intention of “taking a machete’’ to the profession and there was no risk to teacher holidays.
The results of the postal ballot by all three teaching unions will be known on May 21st.