TUI delegates yesterday unanimously rejected the proposal to publish school inspection reports. The union voted in favour of the emergency motion before the conference closed in Tralee. This follows the INTO's vote to ban co-operation with the Whole School Evaluation reports. The first such reports are expected to be published in June.
The TUI motion was proposed by nine branches. Kildare delegate Val O'Brien said this was a very important issue. "This is something that the Minister seems to have brought in ahead of league tables," he said. "This is a very important issue because this will identify individual teachers in schools, no matter what they say."
In many smaller schools where there was only one teacher teaching a particular subject an inspection report criticising the standard of teaching in that subject would clearly identify the teacher, he said. "We never signed up to that. We never agreed to that."
Earlier, delegates directed the TUI to reject any move by the State Examinations Commission to hold oral exams during the Easter holidays. The commission had issued a consultation document proposing that Leaving Certificate oral exams be held in the last three days of the second term and the first three days of the Easter holidays.
An emergency motion directing the union to reject any move to introduce assessment or examination of the junior and leaving certificate during the Easter break was unanimously carried.
Donegal delegate Bernard Doherty said he proposed the motion because he believed the State Examinations Commission was testing the water to gauge the reaction of teachers. "But there was no reaction," he said.
Mr Doherty said the plan to hold oral examinations during the Easter holidays raised several questions, such as who would open the schools. It would also leave the door open for other examinations to be held during teachers' holidays.
More than 1,000 teachers carry out oral examinations in seven leaving certificate subjects. Because they do the examinations during the school year, they are absent from their own classes during this time. The commission has been in consultation on this issue.
TUI delegates carried an emergency motion "deploring" the assessment of probationary teachers by principals. Dublin delegate Mary Ryan said that teachers were already being assessed in this way on a number of areas, such as lesson plans, punctuality and teaching methods.
This was open to abuse, particularly in the case of some principals who liked to be surrounded by "a coterie of sycophants and Noddys", she said. "I contend that principals are not qualified to assess teachers."
It could spread to include the assessment of all teachers, damaging collegiality between the principal and staff. Busy principals would pass the job to deputy and assistant principals and this would be bad for everyone, Ms Ryan added.
