Call for suspension of junior cycle teacher training rejected

A request by teacher unions to have training on the new junior cycle suspended has been rejected by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) wrote a letter on Monday asking her department to suspend school meetings and planning and continuous professional development (CPD) for the new junior cycle framework.

They suggested it would be of benefit for this to happen if they were to suspend their ongoing industrial action, under which their 27,000 members have been directed since last April not to co-operate with any of those activities anyway.

The unions also rejected her suggestion that the final proposals by Pauric Travers — which their executives decided at the weekend not to accept — should be put to a ballot of their members. The ASTI and TUI presidents and general secretaries suggest the Travers document remains incomplete as long as further discussions — which his plan acknowledged were needed — had taken place.

“We put this to you in good faith as, at this critical juncture, it would be appropriate for both parties to create a clear opportunity for discussion by means of a mutual suspension of actions,” they wrote.

The unions decided on Friday not to go ahead with a third one-day strike at the country’s secondary schools, however they said they could not accept the Travers plan without further clarification from the department, particularly on what resources schools would be given to implement it.

In response to their letter, their minister wrote back yesterday evening to welcome their consideration of suspending their industrial action but said she has no plan to suspend CPD.

Ms O’Sullivan wrote: “I have accepted that Dr Travers’ proposal, while requiring further compromise on my side, represents a reasonable basis for agreement...

“However, Dr Travers also made clear that the delivery of CPD should recommence immediately, and it remains my intention to abide by that recommendation.”

The minister yesterday launched a redesigned website for the Junior Cycle for Teachers support service, the role of which is to deliver CPD for the new courses and assessment systems.

Its work has been restricted since last April to training of staff of special schools, whose staff are not members of ASTI or TUI, and designing courses for school management and teachers to be delivered if the dispute is resolved.

In the Dáil, Ms O’Sullivan said it was the unions which have prevented teachers from availing of training.

“We are putting the CPD on a website, so it will be available online if people wish to access it without having to go somewhere physically... We have some evidence to the effect that individual teachers are anxious to proceed with the reform,” she said.

Fianna Fáil education spokesman Charlie McConalogue said no one partner could veto but neither could one partner dictate, even if they were the employer.

The minister agreed by her acceptance of the Travers plan to delay introducing science as the second subject in which a new curriculum will be taught, meaning it would not now begin until September of next year.

English is the first subject in which assessment by teachers is scheduled, currently in a year’s time.