Primary teachers to be balloted

The country’s 33,000 primary school teachers are to be balloted for industrial action this week over what their union claimed was the Department of Education’s ban on work promotions in schools and an increased workload.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said the ballot will ask teachers to stop all involvement with the department’s continuing programme of school self-evaluation.

“We have looked for an end to the ban on promotions that’s in place since 2009,” said the union’s general secretary Sheila Nunan. “To date, the department has not responded positively to this demand.

“Unpromoted teachers are being denied opportunities for promotion, already promoted teachers are doing additional work because of the ban and most principals are trying to run a modern school without a full in-school management team.”

INTO has pointed to recently-completed research which it carried out showing significantly increased workload stress.

“This research identifies demands by inspectors, increased paperwork requirements and the continued moratorium on promotion in primary schools,” it said.