A powerful new education partnership, representing parents, teacher unions and school managers at second level, has accused the Government of "foostering along" instead of framing a coherent policy and intends to make education an election issue.
Draft papers prepared for the group, the Partners in Education for Change (PEC), are scathing of Government underinvestment in second-level education.
It says the partners have "come together out of frustration at inaction" on issues including overcrowded classrooms and inadequate support for newcomer children. The group says its members have grown "weary of witnessing neglect" in the education sector.
But one school management group, the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), has already opted out of the process amid concerns that the tone of the document is too political.
The group has met on a confidential basis four times since January. It includes representatives from the National Parents Council (post-primary), the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, the Teachers' Union of Ireland and the main school management bodies - the Joint Managerial Body, the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools and the IVEA.
Last night Michael Moriarty, of the IVEA, confirmed that his organisation had withdrawn from the new group. "We were unhappy with the political direction the group was taking. The IVEA was anxious to protect its own autonomy," he said.
The IVEA's decision has dismayed some of the other groups, who believed the new initiative had "huge potential to expose the scandalous level of underfunding in education", one member said.
According to draft documentation prepared for the group, the PEC's main agenda is to "raise the issues . . . put education on the agenda as an election issue and point out the inadequacies" in current spending. But it also stresses that the group should "not be part of the Opposition". The main issues identified by the group include:
• The underfunding of the Irish education system compared with other developed countries;
• Overcrowded classrooms;
• Inadequate support for special needs;
• The school discipline crisis;
• Lack of support for newcomer children;
• Inadequate support for information technology in schools.
The decision to establish the group was the initiative of the National Parents Council (post-primary).
In a draft document prepared last month the PEC says that the "Government has been foostering piecemeal, reacting to legislation, court cases and media exposure of particular issues... The time lapse between what needs to be done and taking action to resolve the problem is unacceptable." The PEC claims that "Government policy lies at the heart" of the main problems it has identified in education.
It continues: "These issues are long known and backed up by expert reports and long promises. We are weary of knowing what's wrong and weary of witnessing neglect in implementing simple policies that would make a huge difference in classrooms throughout the country."
