Madam, - Karl Kitching makes a number of references to the ASTI in his article "Segregation in education is never the best route to take" (Opinion, August 20th). Given that Mr Kitching relied on a newspaper report and did not contact us to ascertain our position, it is important that I should clarify where we stand.
The ASTI represents 17,000 teachers in second-level schools - voluntary secondary schools, community and comprehensive schools and certain community colleges. Our second-level schools have been wonderfully successful in welcoming and integrating students from diverse backgrounds. Furthermore our schools, unlike those in other countries, have not been sites of conflict. Our teachers, as a core professional principle, respect, value and accommodate diversity; we acknowledge the human dignity of each pupil we teach.
With regard to competence in the English language, teachers adopt a variety of valid educational procedures tailored to individual circumstances, including individual tuition, in-class tuition, and language support classrooms; for pupils of 15 or 16 years of age, an immersion course in English may be beneficial before they participate in, for example, a higher level physics class.
Mr Kitching should have regard to the real differences in the connotations of such words as "segregation" and "separation". It is a normal feature of school life that pupils receive separate instruction for a variety of reasons including language support. To suggest that this, or a short immersion course in English, involves support for "segregation", with all the historical baggage that such a word contains, does a great disservice to the dedicated teachers who, in an under-funded system, welcome and respect pupils from all cultures. - Yours, etc,
JOHN WHITE, General Secretary, ASTI, Winetavern Street, Dublin 8.