Sir, - Further to Sean Flynn's thought-provoking article on teachers' pay and his suggestion of a productivity-linked pay increase may I point out that the education sector in Ireland is no stranger to productivity? The broad education enjoyed by so many of our students would be all the poorer were it not for teachers giving generously of their time to promote and develop important activities such as games, debates, drama, choirs, transition year and a multitude of life-enriching competitions and experiences.
Let me illustrate this by a broad outline of my week since returning from the ASTI conference in Killarney. In that time I will have proof-read our school yearbook, processed transition-year applications, produced a French play in a schools' drama festival, attended a weekend conference on European Studies and further progressed our school Comenius project - none of which bring any monetary reward as they are undertaken in a voluntary capacity - in addition to my contractual duties.
Such generosity is apparently unique to Irish teachers and comes without regard to profitsharing schemes, bonus payments, or expense accounts. Indeed, these very methods of enhancing salary and evading the strict terms of the PPF seem to be the preserve of the private sector alone. As teachers and members of a caring profession we don't talk about productivity or "bench-marking" for they have no place within our profession, and long may it remain so. Instead we concern ourselves with student needs and respond generously to their ongoing vicissitudes.
Teaching is a profession under threat. The future looks bleaker by the day as graduates opt for more profitable employment and schools are deprived of young teachers. Classes go unsupervised when teachers are ill and schools are increasingly forced to reduce options involving subjects such as construction studies, computer studies, home economics, technology, science and languages.
The implications for society and the economy are obvious to all who care to see. Teachers need a decent pay increase soon and not gimmickry such as Christmas bonuses, as suggested by one general secretary. The trickery of overlapping national agreements which allowed us no window of opportunity to address our pay grievance could yet prove very costly. Your Education Editor, Sean Flynn, is right to call for a "generous pay increase" for teachers - but dare I suggest that his proposals relating to "productivity" need to be revisited? - Yours, etc.,
Sean Higgins, Former president, ASTI, Westway, Beabeg, Drogheda.