Foot-and-mouth disease got in the way again this week, forcing the North's largest teachers' union, the Ulster Teachers' Union (UTU), to postpone its annual conference in Newcastle, Co Down. Members, however, are keen to ensure the hottest issue of the conference that never was, pay and conditions, won't go away. On Wednesday, at its annual conference, one of the UK's largest teachers' union, the NASUWT, which has considerable membership in the North, joined a call by its two biggest rivals, the ATL and NUT, for a 35-hour week and an annual classroom teacher's salary of £35,000 sterling.
The UTU's general secretary, Mr Ray Calvin, says the move has put a "spring in the step" of Northern teachers. "This is the first time in my 30 years of teaching that the three main UK unions have spoken with one voice. Frankly, it shows that they are at the end of their tether. How can you provide a long-time professional service under anything less than professional conditions?"
Mr Calvin says Northern teachers feel particularly aggrieved every time they look across the Border. In the Republic, teachers' salaries start at just over £17,000 and can go as high as £35,000 for a classroom teacher. In the North, they are between £15,000 and £24,000 sterling.
"People point to the currency differential, the higher taxation in the South and the higher living costs, particularly in the Dublin area, but frankly, these points alone do not account for the gap," he says.
What creates even more envy are the flexible working conditions of teachers in the Republic. Northern teachers have to spend 1,265 hours annually - 32.5 hours a week - on school premises for either teaching or preparation duties during which they have to make themselves available to their principals for any work requested. Another 20 to 30 hours are spent on marking and preparation outside school. In the South, once classes have finished for the day, teachers are free to take their work home.
"I don't believe for a second that Southern teachers work any less hard. In fact, they most likely come to the same 55 to 60 hours a week that we would be doing. The difference is that they are being given far greater flexibility on where and when they are doing their non-classroom work," Mr Calvin says.
Teacher welfare is another growing concern in the North following alarming surveys about teachers wanting to quit due to stress, workload and psychological pressures. The UTU hopes to have an independent welfare service in place by next year following consultations with the Department of Education and teachers' employers such as the education and library boards.
In the primary sector especially, male teachers have become an endangered species, partly due to low pay but mainly because of an increasing risk of facing abuse allegations, teaching unions claim. At its Jersey conference, the NASUWT adopted a resolution calling for more effective safeguards for teachers against malicious allegations, something the UTU would like to see adopted in the North.
Measures under consideration include allowing teachers to continue working after an allegation has been made against them, anonymity until he/she is convicted by a proper legal process and the setting up of a mechanism for compensation in the case of unfounded allegations.