The Minister for Education and Science, Dr Woods, was greeted with warm applause at the TUI annual congress in Tralee yesterday. It was TUI president Mr Joe Carolan, however, who got the standing ovation.
The Minister was lavish in his praise of the contribution made by teachers to the State's economic development.
He said some people were underestimating the potential of the bench-marking body (to be established under the PPF) to bring out the real contribution teachers were making to the economy. He promised to ensure that the value of education would be pressed in the appropriate forum.
The early settlers' 3 per cent pay increase would be implemented on October 1st, he said.
Mr Carolan warned the Minister that teachers were at a crossroads. If teacher pay was allowed to go further out of line with other groups the ensuing crisis in education would have serious consequences for long-term economic prosperity.
Teacher morale was at an all-time low and the brain drain from teaching had already begun.
Some 1,000 extra teaching posts would be in place in second-level schools in the next year, the Minister promised, adding that the pupil-teacher ratio was to be reduced from 19:1 to 18:1.
In his reply, Mr Carolan said that while he welcomed the jobs, it was vital that they were targeted at areas of disadvantage.
He warned the Minister to avoid coming under pressure from powerful groups who would demand their share of the increased resources irrespective of whether the demand was justified.
Later, at a press briefing, Dr Woods confirmed that a balance would have to be found between targeting disadvantage and decreasing the pupil-teacher ratio all round.
He also confirmed that teachers would have a greater role in school-based assessment at Junior Certificate level in the future. "I believe that methods of assessment are powerful educational tools for supporting learning," he told congress.
The Minister announced that the Stay in School initiative which was established by his predecessor, Mr Martin, and was designed to support children at risk of dropping out of education, would be extended to a further 40 schools.
A review of the Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) programme was imminent, the Minister promised. This review would make recommendations on infrastructure and examine structures for a range of supports.
In relation to special-needs education, Mr Carolan told Dr Woods that his Department had failed to resource schools adequately and had refused to give adequate training to teachers.
The TUI president also drew the Minister's attention to the TUI report on remedial education. The findings were shocking, he said, and highlighted the fact that the area was still very under-resourced.
The numbers in technology education were being kept down artificially and it was vital that the Minister dealt with the problem as a matter of urgency.
Last year, Mr Carolan noted, despite the fact that 250 students listed woodwork at the University of Limerick as their first CAO choice, the university could offer only 40 places.
Mr Carolan raised the issue of 30 secretarial teachers, all women, who, he said, had been discriminated against for years.
Many of them had more than 30 years' service. None the less, they were deemed unqualified by the Department and were ineligible for permanent posts.
"They are treated like second-class citizens and are denied permanent status," he said.
Dr Woods told journalists that he had found Mr Carolan's speech very interesting and that he looked forward to continuing discussions with the union on the issues raised.