Members of the teachers’ union ASTI favour pursuing their 30 per cent pay claim with the minimum disruption to schools, a survey conducted by the union reveals.
Results of the survey, published today, suggest widespread industrial action - as taken previously by the union - is not favoured by teachers.
However, 71 per cent of those questioned supported the refusal to co-operate with the introduction of new curriculums, 60 per cent were in favour of withdrawing co-operation with "in-service" programmes, while 56 per cent said they would favour not taking part in extra-curricular activities such as school plays and weekend sport.
Seventy six per cent of the teachers questioned said they favoured the continued lobbying of politicians in pursuit of a substantial pay rise, while 74 per cent said they wanted their Labour Court submission sent to the benchmarking body.
Seventy per cent of 17,500 teachers who were sent questionaires responded.
Commenting on the results of the survey, ASTI General Secretary Mr Charlie Lennon said: "The high participation rate shows that members are concerned about the issue of teachers' pay, but do not want to see schools facing severe disruption".
"While we anticipated that there would be a divergence of views on a number of issues, we are satisfied that members are unified on the key issues and have indicated their commitment to a campaign which targets the Government and the Department of Education, with minimum disturbance to schools and pupils", he added.
The union’s standing committee met to review the results of the survey and to discuss the possibility of the Government making the £27-per-hour supervision offer pensionable.
A sizeable number of ASTI members are anxious to separate the supervision issue from their 30 per cent pay claim. The standing committee is likely to be told it is not advisable to disrupt classes over supervision which is regarded by many teachers as a side issue.
The speculation last night that the supervision offer may be made pensionable reduced fears of new industrial action by teachers.
The Department of Education met the three teacher unions on the issue last night and while no concessions were made, teachers are hopeful.
The TUI has already rejected the £27 offer, while the ASTI has voted to withdraw from pervision/substitution entirely.
