Teachers united - Great power brings great responsibility

A SINGLE super union representing all teachers should be a wonderful idea for anyone working in or using our educational system.

It should bring a unity and energy informed by a common purpose: the development of a world-class educational system that would produce graduates able to enrich our society and sustain our economy.

It should be strong enough to ensure that all its members get a fair crack of the whip and enjoy conditions that reflect their real contribution to society.

It should do wonders for teacher confidence and help streamline the evolution of an educational system that needs to constantly change to meet the needs of a progressive society in an ever-changing world.

Especially, as it has been suggested, that our educational system is not as good as we imagine it to be nor as good as it should be.

An opinion bolstered by the fact that we do not yet offer our second-level students even the opportunity to learn Mandarin — a language that may well be key to carrying out international business from now on.

However, the fear might be that a super union would become an irresistible force that would deepen the divide between public sector workers and those in the private sector. This divide has the potential to become a barrier to real social unity and social equity and must be confronted sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately our distracted government has shown that it has neither the stomach nor the determination to recognise let alone resolve these inequities.

It has capitulated on benchmarking by making the payments but passed on the promised reform. It is even possible that the recent decision not to make any offer to a large number of public employees in the last round of benchmarking will be reversed at national pay talks.

The Government did not even put up a half-decent fight on decentralisation, backing off at the first sign of mandarin resistance.

However, these are side issues that can be confronted at another time and anything that can strengthen our educational system is to be greatly welcomed.

There is, however a caveat.

A single teacher union would have a degree of power way beyond the power enjoyed by its constituent unions. That new power would bring with it a responsibility that has not always come naturally to those unions.

Let us hope that power would be used for the benefit of everyone using our educational system, not just the providers.