We have a school system where teachers are seldom assessed, excellence goes unrewarded, mediocrity is tolerated, and the indolent find sanctuary. It is high time for a new teaching contract, writes the former president of UL, DR EDWARD WALSH

THE McCARTHY report comes in two volumes. Volume 1 provides the broad brush strokes, Volume 2 the details as to how €5.3 billion of flab can be cut from the Irish public sector in a full year.

The McCarthy team found good reason to scrutinise the €6 billion annual expenditure of the Irish school system. It discovered surprising work practices and a plethora of special payments made to teachers that are unique to Ireland.

As a result, annual savings amounting for a substantial €425 million were identified. Teachers’ unions reacted predictably and trotted out their standard sanctimonious mantra of commitment to the defence of vulnerable children.

But what the McCarthy report reveals makes such proclamations ring hollow. Remuneration of Irish teachers has increased at such a rate that it is now among the highest in the world and, as a result, almost all of the €6 billion school budget finds its way into teachers’ bank accounts, leaving only €0.5 billion to run the schools.

McCarthy has wielded the knife skilfully, avoiding much damage to the educational core.

While venturing onwards from McCarthy’s Volume 1 to the detail of Volume 2 may appear daunting, the exercise is both reassuring and startling.

It’s reassuring to find that one can save nearly half a billion euro a year from the school budget without significantly disrupting the core, and startling to discover the kind of working conditions and special payments Irish teachers have won for themselves when compared to their counterparts elsewhere.

Credit, if that is the word, can be given to the teachers’ unions, which relentlessly, time after time, have outmanoeuvred the Department of Education in eroding the school year, while at the same time increasing teacher remuneration. Threatening to disrupt the Leaving Cert has been the heavy gun hidden, never too far, from the negotiating table.

As a result, the pay of Irish teachers is among the highest in the world (they are paid 35 per cent more than their UK counterparts). Payments totalling €300 million each year are paid in addition to basic salary for supervision and substitution.

Irish secondary teachers’ unions have been most successful not only in boosting earnings but in locking in a teaching year of only 735 hours – 40 per cent less than the OECD average of 1,214.

Teachers can take up to 30 days of uncertified sick leave from an already short school year of 183 days, in the case of primary, and 167 days in the case of secondary. This year, more than €180 million will be paid to their colleagues to cover the cost of those teachers who are absent on sick leave or for other reasons.

The school year is further eroded by in-service teacher training, which teachers’ unions insist must be undertaken during class hours. Last year there were 3,300 instances of full school closure for staff training during term. A primary teacher who attends a training course during the summer break can claim three days annual leave during term-time for taking a five-day course. The taxpayer funds the course, which generally concludes each day at 2pm – with lunch.

Ireland differs from most other countries in permitting teachers absent themselves from school during the working day to undertake other activities when not scheduled to teach.

In addition to the high basic salary and extra payments for supervision and substitution, 52 per cent of all teachers receive what are termed “management allowances” at a further cost of €236 million a year.

The McCarthy report provides interesting facts that facilitate the calculation of the actual student- teacher ratio.

For example, there are 31,134 teachers teaching 500,000 pupils at primary level. Dividing one by the other gives a pupil teacher ratio of 16:1. Where, then, is the 24:1 ratio that perplexes union leaders?

For good reason, one must deduct the 1,100 non-teaching principals who carry a heavy burden indeed. This pushes up

the ratio towards 17:1. But there are a further 9,400 teachers who support the work in the classroom through their role in areas such

as special needs, resource, disadvantage and language support. If you choose to eliminate these from the calculation you get the higher ratio of 24:1.

The revelations in the McCarthy report are not a great surprise to me. I had reason, for seven years, while chairing the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, to sit for what appeared to be endless hours observing the skilful tactics of the teacher union representatives as they intercepted those initiatives to reform the curriculum that might prove potentially disruptive to the lifestyle of their members.

That experience left me with the sad realisation that Ireland’s educational system is more teacher-centred than student- centred. When the chips are down, what’s best for teachers – rather than for pupils – rules. When I hear the bluster of union leaders declaring how committed they are to the protection of vulnerable students, I know where their priorities really lie.

Despite my disappointing experiences with teachers’ union leadership, I have had great pleasure encountering many superb teachers, totally committed to the interests of their students.

However, the Irish educational system as it has evolved tends to reward not achievement and excellence but seniority. We have a school system where teachers are seldom assessed, excellence goes unrewarded, mediocrity is tolerated and the indolent find sanctuary.

It is time for a change. The current economic crisis provides the opportunity to face down teachers’ unions and put a new contract in place, a contract that continues to remunerate teachers well for work during an extended school year, that encourages and rewards excellence, and that embraces all the duties normal to the professional in most other countries: supervision, substitution, school planning, parent-teacher meetings, in-service training, examinations, administration and management duties as defined by school management.

This would be a contract benchmarked against best international practice in countries such as Finland, Canada or Japan, where schools achieve the highest standards.

McCarthy has justified the reduction of staff number by 3,400 at primary and 1,240 at second level. This concentrates the mind and should provide the backdrop against which a new teacher contract is defined.

The old teachers’ union negotiating tactic of threatening to close the schools, or delay the Leaving Cert, may have lost its potency. Indeed, were a prolonged strike to close the schools for a year it would postpone the arrival of some 20,000 graduates seeking jobs or welfare payments, while saving the exchequer some €3.5 billion in unpaid teachers’ salaries.

The recent provocative decision of secondary teachers’ unions to ban parent-teacher meetings outside regular school hours has stimulated an angry reaction from hard-pressed parents and further reduces public regard for the teaching profession. The McCarthy report reveals wasteful, restrictive practices in the Irish school system and leaves the teachers’ unions with few places to hide. The tables have been turned: the Minister now has the cards.

It is time to act and, with minimal consultation, draw up a new contract based on international best practice. This would help restore confidence in the Irish teaching profession and give scope to the thousands of committed teachers who wish to do a good job and help Ireland compete with the best.

• Dr Edward Walsh is the founding president of the University of Limerick