Teachers' Union of Ireland president Mr Joe Carolan was in fighting form when he addressed the union's annual congress in Tralee, Co Kerry, yesterday.
The 30 per cent pay claim by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland; management in the institutes of technology; the current state of remedial education; and the decision of the Irish Vocational Education Association and ACS to suspend the filling of promotional posts came in for criticism from Mr Carolan.
On the issue of teacher pay, he said performance-related pay had no place in Irish education. However, he believed the benchmarking provisions of the new Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, which compare teachers' salaries to those of workers in the private sector, provided the best means of achieving significant increases for TUI members. "Bench-marking will be whatever the teacher unions are strong enough to make it." he declared.
The alternative would be to follow the ASTI strategy of a 30 per cent pay claim, Mr Carolan suggested. However, the ASTI had failed to explain its claim satisfactorily to the TUI.
The ASTI was unable to state whether the 30 per cent was in addition to the terms of the PPF or if the 3 per cent early-settlers' claim was included. The TUI president called on both the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the ASTI to work with the TUI on the pay issue.
Mr Carolan highlighted the issue of industrial relations in the Institute of Technology sector. "To say that the industrial climate in the ITs is appalling is the understatement of the year."
The ITs continued "to attempt to scupper and disregard agreements and to ignore representations made by the union". He called on the Minister for Education and Science to address the problem as a matter of urgency.
Referring to the 800 new teaching posts established by the former Minister for Education at the end of last year and the 600 posts to be established under the terms of the PPF, Mr Carolan said these extra teaching resources must be aimed at areas of disadvantage.
"We want the criteria for disadvantage to be reviewed and clearly defined. We also want transparency and openness in the whole area of teacher allocation." The Minister had a unique opportunity to tackle educational disadvantage, but he would fail if he adopted a scatter-gun approach to teacher allocations.
Regarding remedial education, a recent TUI survey involving 160 schools painted a shocking picture, the union's president stressed. Almost one-third of all students enrolled in public sector schools in the last academic year were found to have reading ages two years or more below their chronological ages, the survey showed.
Less than half the sector's remedial teachers reported increased provision over the past five years. The statistics revealed in the survey belied Department claims that there had been increased provision in the area of remedial education.
Mr Carolan deplored the decision of the IVEA and the ACS to suspend the filling of promotional posts without consultation or agreement with the TUI.
The two organisations, having taken legal advice, feared that the criteria for appointment might be contrary to the Employment Equality Act. "This is a much wider issue than the filling of promotional posts," he warned. "Any time a management body wants to breach a collective agreement all it has to do is procure legal advice that there might be a difficulty. They can then simply walk away from a collective agreement."
In his address to congress yesterday, the TUI general secretary, Mr Jim Dorney, said the only difference between his union and the other teacher unions was not the search for a further pay rise for teachers but how that rise should be sought. While the TUI was seeking to make further gains through the bench-marking process, others were seeking to reopen what was effectively a closed book. He urged his members to look forward rather than back.
The Post Leaving Certificate area of education now catered for up to 24,000 students, but had been allowed to develop without planning, resources or forethought. Mr Dorney called on the Minister for Education to appoint an impartial person to chair a working group to put the PLC sector on a sound footing.