The benchmarking process should herald progress on modernisation in the education sector. Some badly-needed reforms are in train.
The Government is moving to protect exam students from being targeted in industrial disputes and discussions will begin on standardisation of the school year. To the relief of many hard-pressed parents, discussions will be held on a new system for parent/teacher meetings. This is designed to deliver a new flexible approach with meetings scheduled for times which are convenient for parents - and which minimise the loss of teaching time for pupils.
In one form or other, all of these problems have been left unresolved on the education agenda for a decade and more. Discussion on a new regime for parent/teacher meetings took place as part of the PCW talks in 1996 but the agreement was never implemented. There is an urgent need for a new approach. The current system whereby parents must leave their place of work for half or even a full day may have been acceptable 10 years ago; it cannot be defended today.
Hard-pressed parents should no longer have to tolerate this situation especially when teachers enjoy one of the shortest school years in the OECD. Most teachers work long hours preparing classes or doing extra-curricular work without payment. That said, it is not unreasonable to ask teachers - who enjoy very long holidays and shorter days than most workers - to give up some of their time. The fact that the current situation has been allowed to continue indicates where the real power in Irish education lies. The teaching unions remain the dominant force; parents remain a group with no muscle and little influence.
The move to introduce a new code of practice for exam work is also welcome. The manner in which the ASTI targeted exam students during its unsuccessful pay campaign was a shock to many in the education system. It is to be hoped that all teaching unions sign up to a new protocol which acknowledges that exams are an essential public service.
The ASTI, of course, withdrew from benchmarking. It now faces the bizarre scenario of having to ballot its members on a deal it played no part in negotiating. The Government is right to insist that ASTI members will not receive the 13 per cent on offer - unless they sign up to the benchmarking deal. The union cannot have it both ways. If it wants the benefits of the benchmarking deal, it must be ready to accept its very reasonable terms.