Agreement expected on teacher supervision deal

A BREAKTHROUGH in talks between teachers and the Department of Education on payment for supervision and substitution is expected in the next few days, union sources said yesterday.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) have been signed up for the deal since the summer, but negotiations on how to make the payment pensionable have failed to bring agreement with the department.

Now, mediation by Labour Relations Commission official Tom Pomphrett between the parties could provide the incentive for Association of Secondary School Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) members to also agree to the deal.

The TUI has threatened to withdraw its members from classroom supervision if the matter is not resolved by next weekend. However, union sources say Mr Pomphrett will be called in by this evening to try and broker an agreement.

At the centre of the row is that some teachers don’t want to supervise classes or provide substitution cover.

The move should come as reassurance to ASTI members meeting over the next week ahead of their special convention on October 19. Around 450 delegates are expected to back a national ballot asking the 17,000 members whether to join the other two unions in accepting the supervision and substitution deal, worth up to 1,369 a year to teachers.

There had been uncertainty in the 56 ASTI branches over signing up as long as the package had not yet been finalised with the TUI and INTO.

In the meantime, the union has sent out a strong warning following reports of ASTI members carrying out these duties in some schools despite the ban. In its newsletter, it said a breach of the directive would constitute a breach of rules, for which appropriate action would be taken.

“In addition, it should be noted that such breaches are contrary to the interests of the ASTI and are an attack on trade union solidarity,” members were told.

In the event of a positive ballot result, the difficulties caused by having non-teaching staff supervising students at hundreds of secondary schools could be removed by early November.

However, there will be some crossover on the matter of new syllabi in Leaving Cert biology and home economics, whose introduction Education Minister Noel Dempsey has put back until the end of this month.

The move was seen as an opportunity to give ASTI some breathing space to assess its next step in its 30% pay claim, which has resulted in a ban on the training they need to teach the new courses, along with the stalled supervision issue.

Mr Dempsey will meet ASTI officials when he launches their CD-Rom handbook for members at the union’s office this afternoon.

The convention, on the same day as the Nice Treaty vote, will also be significant because delegates will broach the subject of benchmarking.