Further education overhaul will require 12 month teacher provision
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn revealed the plan yesterday, confirming some courses will soon operate on a year-round basis instead of a September to May cycle. Affected teachers will still work nine months a year, but will be asked to take their time off at a different point in the calendar.
The Labour TD said the policy switch is linked to the imminent replacement of Fás with Solas, which is due to take place over the coming weeks.
And while he stressed the plan is in its early stages and is open to negotiation, he appeared to soften up affected teachers by saying the change is needed to reform the system.
“In our training centres, year-round provision has always been the norm. But this has not been the case in the further education sector,” he said. “If the focus of this sector is on creating the opportunities which our people need, this must change.
“People cannot dictate when they will become unemployed. Equally, we cannot dictate that education opportunities will only appear at certain times of the year. We need to be much more flexible than that. This Government has supported over 60,000 people back into employment over the last year.
“But an unemployment rate of 11.8% still demands we focus relentlessly on providing people with pathways back to work,” he said.
The move was greeted by shock among teachers, with particular concerns teachers may be asked to work longer periods for the same conditions.
Mr Quinn said that “how it’s done and when it’s done is a matter for negotiation”.
However, he stressed he does not believe it is acceptable for parts of the education system to lie idle for three or four months.
Responding in a speech, Gerard Craughwell, TUI president, said that Mr Quinn has become “the minister for announcements instead of the minister for negotiations”, adding that he will “not stand by and watch someone take further education apart”.
During his speech to the TUI, Mr Quinn again defended junior cycle reform, saying the current system is “falling below” its potential and “not providing an engaging and challenging experience”.
Despite criticism of his plan for technology universities, he said the proposed mergers of current institutes of technologies does not mean he will “go down the Margaret Thatcher route of renaming every polytechnic as a university”.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has hit out at teachers who shouted him down on Tuesday, insisting that “on this island of all islands” people should be aware of the need to sit down and listen to each others’ views.
Speaking after receiving a polite but guarded welcome at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, the Labour TD voiced his concern over the response at the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) the previous day — and claims by the union’s general secretary, Pat King, that he has personally been subjected to death threats.
Emphasising that Ireland is “a democratic society”, Mr Quinn said he is happy to “engage in robust discussion” but that all sides of a debate must be allowed to express their views.
He said as a public representative he was “invited to speak and I tried to speak”, before adding: “My God, we’ve seen what the lack of dialogue did in Northern Ireland for far too long. We should on this island of all islands be aware of that.”
The minister’s reception at the TUI followed a call from the union’s general secretary, John MacGabhann, for delegates to “afford our guest the respect he is due”.
Mr Quinn’s appearance was met by polite applause, with TUI members confining their protest to boisterous cheering of the official response from their president, Gerard Craughwell.
