AS EXPECTED, the teacher union conferences this week were dominated by unrest about education cutbacks rather than the public-sector levy. They maximised the opportunity to reach out to parents and their children to fight their cause. Much media attention focused on the walk-outs and other antics by a small minority of delegates when Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe, addressed each conference. But the dominant mood among delegates was serious as teachers voiced concern about the impact of education cuts on schools.
At each conference delegates outlined the impact of what one teacher called the “catastrophe” facing Irish education as the sector wrests with the loss of up to 2,000 teaching posts from September. Primary teachers heard how hundreds of children with mild special learning needs will struggle to cope in mainstream education, when their own special classes are abolished shortly. ASTI and TUI delegates detailed how the Budget education cutbacks target the disadvantaged.
The three teacher unions will embark on a rolling programme of industrial action in an attempt to reverse these cutbacks. Teachers will refuse to co-operate with a range of administrative tasks: they will not fill in for positions left vacant by the recruitment embargo. They will support any planned one-day stoppage organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions over the pension levy.
Concerns have already been raised that these protests will be counter-productive with the potential to damage pupils and inconvenience parents. In this context, the ASTI ban on school inspections, parent/teacher meetings and school development planning is ill-considered. How does a ban on meeting parents help children? How can any teacher justify a ban on evaluation by a school inspector?
The INTO – the largest teaching union – has adopted a more sensible position. The union insists its action must not damage the core business of teaching and learning in schools.
In truth, the options facing teachers in response to the education cuts appear limited. The unions have already been successful in drawing over 100,000 to support a series of street protests over the winter. Many of the protesters were parents, concerned about the impact of the education cuts on their own children. This week, Mr O’Keeffe gave no quarter to delegates, repeating that every sector must expect to take some pain as Ireland works its ways out of recession. There was no acknowledgment of the alternative view – voiced by President Obama – that investment on education can be the engine of economic revival.
The teacher conferences have, at the very least, alerted the wider public to the nature of the education cuts coming in September. Teachers deserve the support of the public as they rail against them. But, as one of their own said on radio the other day, they have a good lifestyle, three months off in the summer and guaranteed holidays. They must be careful not to alienate their ally – the parents in the private sector who are daily becoming more likely to become unemployed.