Teacher pay, class sizes and the bullying of teachers are among the topics for debate at the ASTI's annual convention, which is taking place in Killarney this week. As elsewhere, teacher pay is top of the agenda and is set to become a major issue.
The first motion of the convention proposes a new salary structure for second-level teachers, recognising the changes in second-level workload, the age level of students and the necessity of matching remuneration levels in other professions. "The teacher unions made an agreement under the PCW and were awarded a 5.7 per cent increase under the special award section of the PCW," explains John White, the ASTI's assistant general secretary. "But since then a number of other groups have made settlements which are far in excess of ours. There is a feeling that teachers have been hard done by and need a realignment." The profit-sharing arrangements which are available in the private sector do not apply in the public sector, he notes. "Teachers are also faced with a new Education Act, which puts a whole range of current activities on a statutory footing. Teachers will have to put in structures for a whole range of rights, including parents' and pupils' rights, which are written into the Act."
It is anticipated that the motion will set a marker for future discussions. Class size is another issue that merits debate. A preliminary analysis of class sizes in 600 second-level schools shows that classes of more than 30 students in general subjects and of more than 24 in practical and science subjects are widespread, White says. "We are going to demand that these no longer continue in a modern education system." The ASTI's recently published survey on the bullying of teachers is also to be discussed. The survey shows that two-thirds of teachers have suffered verbal abuse. One quarter of these have suffered verbal abuse by school principals, while more than half have been abused verbally by students. Almost one in 10 of the teachers who admit to being bullied report suffering sexual harassment.
Bullying of teachers in the workplace is of grave concern to the ASTI. Each school, the union argues, should have an anti-bullying policy in place and introduce grievance procedures. Last year, the establishment of special-education units for students with severe emotional or behavioural problems was hotly debated at the convention, which recommended that the education committee produce a comprehensive report on the issue. This report finds that special education policy requires "a number of fundamental changes to ensure that students with emotional and behavioural difficulties are provided with the educational environment which is most conducive to their personal and educational wellbeing".
The ASTI recommends that the Department develops a comprehensive policy to meet the needs of special-education students and special in-school units to deal with children who have emotional and behavioural problems.
Delegates can look forward to further debates on issues including paid substitutes for teachers attending in-career courses, whole-school evaluation, job-sharing and child labour.
