Anger at TUI conference over moving of Leaving Cert orals to Easter

Secondary teachers have criticised the “opportunistic and unacceptable” decision by the Minister for Education to schedule Leaving Cert oral exams during the Easter holidays.

Oral and music practical exams are traditionally held during the school year. However, the State Examinations Commission said it had conducted the exams during the Easter holidays this year to limit disruption to classes and help boost the supply of examiners.

Delegates at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) annual conference in Wexford on Thursday heard that the “recent unilateral announcement” was “an opportunistic and unacceptable attempt by the Minister to normalise a temporary, emergency arrangement that was entered into only and explicitly on a ‘without precedent’ basis as a proportionate, necessary response to the Covid-19 crisis.”

In a motion co-proposed by 20 of the union’s branches around Ireland, delegates instructed the union’s executive to resist “by all available means” the scheduling of the 2023 Leaving Certificate language orals and music practicals during the Easter closure period and to engage with the Department of Education on the issue as a matter of urgency.

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Delegates have also urged the Government to take stronger action on climate action by retrofitting school buildings and by implementing a programme addressing climate change and biodiversity at all school levels.

Speaking on the final day of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland conference in Wexford, delegates heard that many school, college and further education buildings are substandard with both inadequate ventilation to prevent the spread of viruses - particularly Covid-19 - and inadequate insulation to reduce the need for heating.

Cillian O’Neill, a delegate from the TUI’s Dublin-Dun Laoghaire branch, said it was shameful that neither Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris nor Minister for Education Norma Foley had addressed climate action in their respective speeches to the union during the week.

“The buildings we teach in are substandard in many ways,” Mr O’Neill said. “When we finally recognised the importance of ventilation during the Covid crisis, the response was to open the windows during winter. In Scandinavian countries, by contrast, where they have long recognised the importance of ventilation, they simply went to the basement and turned on their mechanical ventilation.”

Caitríona Ní Chatháin, a delegate from Limerick city schools and a teacher at Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh, said that climate change magnifies other crises such as war, immigration, poverty and food shortages.

‘Learn by example’

“We have the collective power to change this, and we know that individualised solutions such as metal straws and switching off lights are not enough. Our learners learn by example, and our schools and centres must become places and models of sustainability.

“Our trade union must call for more from the department of education in this area, as we build new schools and retrofit others.”

Ms Ní Chatháin also said that the climate emergency was a source of huge concern for the students she teaches, and that the young people in her school and around the country were ahead of both their teachers and political leaders.

“In light of the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which said that our time to halt the most catastrophic effects of climate change was running out and we had only three years for global emissions to peak), narratives taught in our schools around ‘carbon footprints’ and reducing individual harm as a solution to the climate catastrophe must now be seriously challenged.

“They have no place in our schools. What should replace them must be bolder, more scientific, and in-step with the mood of the youth. Our young people can see that another world is possible. And they are painfully aware that this is down to political will.”

Delegates at the conference recommended that students who participate in climate strikes should not be penalised, echoing a call by several education unions outside Ireland.

Teachers at the conference also discussed implementing anti-racism programmes, with TUI executive member Shane Curtin criticising the lack of a national anti-racism programme in schools and their lack of urgency in implementing one.

He said that there is a lack of a consistent approach or timelines from the department, with over 20 years of unfulfilled promises.

“Some excellent NGOs have tried to plug the gap, like the Irish Traveller Movement’s Yellow Flag Programme but they can only take on seven or eight schools a year because of funding [SHORTAGES],” he said.

“Our school communities are ready for this change, and many teachers and students in our communities voiced support for Black Lives Matter in 2020. But we need consistency.”