TALKBACK:Criticisms of the Teachers' Union of Ireland were ill informed
THE VEHEMENCE of Brian Mooney's criticisms of the Teachers' Union of Ireland on these pages and on Liveline, on RTÉ Radio 1, last week distracted from the gaping flaws in his arguments.
The union has strong values and a fiercely robust democratic processes. It did initially oppose the Croke Park deal, as did many others, including Brian Mooney’s own union, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland.
The weak cliche that the deal was the “only game in town” is an affront to informed, critical thinking and democracy. TUI negotiators and those from other unions brought back the best available deal at the time. However, our members, and indeed those of other unions, were opposed to trading conditions of service for unclear references to protection of pay. There was a strong view that what was being asked was not in the best interests of education. Does Mooney honestly believe that it was?
Additional clarification was required on a variety of issues about how the deal affected the wide spectrum of educators that we represent. Mooney seems oblivious to the fact that the TUI also represents lecturers at institutes of technology.
With further clarifications received, and conscious of a vastly deteriorating economy, TUI members ultimately, if reluctantly, chose to accept the relative security of the proposals. The initial decision to reject the proposals and the subsequent decision to accept them took place at seismically different times for the country and its people, but such a crucial nuance clearly has no place in a one-way diatribe.
Mooney then reveals the source of his true ire: our attack on the continued funding of privilege in the current economic climate. Fee-paying schools are a bastion of privilege in an education system riven with inequalities. Typically, they do not operate open admissions policies; the student population is not reflective of society or even the communities the schools are based in. With most schools creaking under the strain of anti-educational cuts, and the new Minister delivering a stark message at the teacher conferences, we need to audit every cent that is spent on the education system.
Far from defining this year’s conference, the motion passed in relation to our policy on fee-paying schools was just one of more than 70 debated and passed on diverse issues, from the effects of the loss of year heads and other vital posts to the scandalous attack on the salaries and pensions of new entrants to teaching and lecturing.
By virtue of their double funding, fee-paying schools can lower their pupil-teacher ratios and buy vastly improved facilities that are off limits to most of the population. How does that fit into the Department of Education and Skills’ mission statement of providing equity and inclusion? The salaries of these teachers could still be paid by the State, but in a fair and just society this should be paid back by the schools out of the fees received.
Would parents withdraw their children from these schools as a result of any deficit having to be made up by increased tuition fees? I would strongly wager that most would not. These schools would continue without the subsidy. The additional element of a fee is relatively small in relation to the income of most of the parents in question and is minuscule in relation to the privilege provided.
This is not solely an economic argument but one of equity and fairness. We are not opposed to the funding of minority-faith schools, which often depend on Government assistance to survive.
Brian Mooney referred to Donagh O’Malley’s brave decision to introduce free education. We sincerely hope that Ruairí Quinn will make a similarly brave and era-defining decision by ending this promotion of privilege.
Bernie Ruane is president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland