Jess Casey: Covid, choc-a-block classrooms, and contracts top of teachers' agenda

Minster says 'no single year has been more challenging, more demanding, or more daunting for the education sector'

Anne Loughnane, ASTI regional representative for Cork City and West Cork. Picture: Eddie O’Hare

“It has felt longer than a decade, and shorter than a week,” is how the minister for education succinctly described the last year and its upheaval of education. 

In any given year, Norma Foley may have been able to enjoy the buzz of excitement at the annual teaching conferences.

Since she was appointed minister last summer, she has overseen a number of positive changes, acknowledged by the primary teachers union at the opening of its conference on Tuesday.

A teacher of more than 25 years, she understands the dynamics of working in a classroom.

TUI president Martin Marjoram addressing delegates. Picture: Tommy Clancy

But it’s not any given year. In fact, at times it's been grimly hard as we fundamentally reoriented society, our healthcare, and social systems, she told teachers as she addressed them virtually.

"No single year has been more challenging, more demanding, or more daunting for the education sector than this past year."

But to borrow a phrase from a delegate at the INTO conference, who herself was paraphrasing; Fine words won’t butter too many spuds.

As well as the day-to-day business of running a school during a pandemic, overcrowded classrooms, teacher workloads, and precarious contracts dominated the agendas of the first day of the annual Easter conferences.

Before discussions became acutely focused around vaccines for teachers, or the changes to the rollout,  the theme of each congress was more along the lines of focusing on the classroom as we move away from Covid-19; the lessons we’ve learned from the last year, and how to address the disadvantages exacerbated by the virus.

Did it really take a pandemic to put hot water and soap in our schools? asked Mary Magner, INTO president. Yes, it did. 

“Never again will we tolerate being packed like sardines in overcrowded and undersized classrooms,” she said.

'Choc-a-bloc' classrooms were also raised by Ann Piggott, ASTI president. Unequal pay remains an issue too for teachers who entered the profession after 2011, she also told delegates. 

Mary Magnier, president of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, watched by John Boyle, general secretary, as shewelcomes delegates online to the union's virtual congress. Picture: Moya Nolan

However, previously new teachers who really just wanted to teach used to find second jobs in shops, bars, and restaurants. "Now their only reliable way to earn a steady income in the early years of teaching no longer exists." 

Class sizes were also raised by Michael Gillespie, general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), who called for a fundamental reappraisal and a new conceptualisation of what a school should look like.

One thing became apparent as the day went on: Teachers are still deeply hurt about how the second closure of schools played out politically in January.

Róisín Nic Tighearnain, a principal from Mullingar, said she applauded Ms Foley and Josepha Madigan for the “eloquence” on prioritising the return to school for the most vulnerable.

“But I condemned the manner in which their political rhetoric served to stir up a media frenzy, which caused anger, hurt, resentment, and recriminations among parents and teachers alike.” 

“The trust, dedication, and partnership which has been built up over the years between teachers and parents, who not only advocate for children but ensure the inclusion of children with special needs in all schools, was severely harmed.”

"I was extremely concerned and still am about the manner in which children with special education needs and vulnerable children were used essentially as a political football," she added. 

Teresa Moynihan, delegate of the Dublin West branch of the INTO, watching proceedings online.

Today, the focus will turn to the vaccine as delegates are asked to decide whether the three unions should work together to demand teachers are reinstated for vaccine priority.  

Union members who spoke to the Irish Examiner seem conflicted; While many are furious over the decision to change the roll-out, they aren't sure either if they have the appetite for major industrial action, which they believe would have to be taken this term if it were to have an impact. 

While Ms Foley cited an example of an older teacher being 70 times more likely to die due to Covid than a younger teacher, it doesn’t address the impact that Covid has on schools. 

While a younger teacher may be less likely to suffer the immediate ill effects of Covid, they still have to isolate, leaving schools scrambling to source substitution.

Many had never expected to 'skip the queue ahead of the most vulnerable and were happy with the running order. But the worry here seems to be 'what if?'; What if we miss our vaccine targets, what if I end up with Long Covid, what if we see not one but two more waves of the virus before the year is out?