It is been an extraordinary week at the teachers' conferences with delegates giving voice to pent-up frustration and anger. Some of this was about pay. But for the most part, it was the perceived decline in the status of the profession which most exercised minds. There was a sense from the delegates that the teaching profession is at a turning-point. The number of applicants for the Higher Diploma in Education - the teaching qualification required by secondary teachers - has declined sharply. There is concern that young men in particular are less attracted to teaching. In all of this there are real challenges for Government, principally how to frame a formula for teachers that will protect its pay policy - but also help to attract the best and the brightest to the profession.
A more immediate challenge to the Government is the demand by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) for a 30 per cent pay increase. Yesterday the union's executive formally rejected the national pay deal, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) and set in train moves which will, almost certainly, lead to a campaign of industrial action in the next school year. Those making the case for industrial action received a fillip this week when the Irish Times/MRBI poll indicated that some 46 per cent of the public supported the ASTI claim. But this level of public support could quickly ebb away, especially if there is disruption of next year's exams. The public might also begin to ask awkward questions about teachers' pay and conditions. While most people want to see a teaching profession where teachers are well rewarded and where morale is high, they may also expect to see teachers adopt some of the working practices of the private sector - a longer working year, more accountability and more evaluation - if the Government is to give them more.
In the first instance, the Government must find a way to bring the ASTI back into the partnership fold. The other teaching unions, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) - who accepted the PPF - are pursuing their claim through the productivity or benchmarking process in the PPF. A formula must be found to bring the ASTI back into this process. The Government cannot countenance any pay award for the union, while it remains outside the partnership model.
One might question whether the ASTI has fully worked out a pay strategy. The bitter division between the president, Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan and the general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon over strategy will hardly inspire confidence in the staff rooms across the State. Ms O'Sullivan favours an uncompromising approach. Mr Lennon is more cautious. There is a danger that industrial action by secondary teachers and a continuation of this bitter internal dispute within the ASTI could damage the status of the teaching profession in the public mind. That would be deeply ironic after a conference week dominated by concerns about the declining status of the profession.