TEACHER'S PET:This morning, Batt O'Keeffe will deliver his first ever address as Minister for Education to a teacher conference.
One of his predecessors said addressing the teacher conferences was like “entering the lion’s den’’. And no education minister looks forward to this week.
Michael Woods was famously savaged by ASTI delegates six years ago at the height of the bitter pay dispute – although, since then, delegates have been (mostly) courteous and polite to Noel Dempsey and Mary Hanafin.
With the education sector reeling from the cuts imposed last September, one might expect that Batt O’Keeffe will face a hard time this week.
The charge sheet against him is a long one; more than 30 cuts across a wide range of education services, including that increase in class size. Most damning of all, many of the cuts affect the poor and the vulnerable.
The teacher unions are facing into the most challenging period since the early 1980s, with job losses and scores of unemployed teaching graduates by next autumn.
Against this background, one might imagine that Batt will receive a hostile response from delegates. But, curiously, there is little sign of rebellion.
Yes, there is plenty of anger about the impact of the various cuts. But with the economy on its knees, there is also a sense of exasperation; a sense that some pain is inevitable for every sector.
O’Keeffe’s affability will also help to deflect a good deal of the criticism. Despite the cutbacks, he remains popular with teachers, largely because of his modesty and his sense of humour.
This week’s conferences should mark the culmination of the campaign by the three teacher unions against the cuts. Over the winter, they were very successful in marshalling opposition to the various cuts, bringing tens of thousands on to the streets.
The difficulty now is to crank up the protest again – before most of the cuts are implemented when the new school year begins in September.
Has opposition to the cutbacks blown itself out? This week’s annual round of teacher conferences should tell us.
Got any education stories? E-mail teacherspet@irishtimes.com
