Teachers’ campaign - Return to core values is welcome

HAVING survived bitter internal squabbles and resolved their long-running pay row with Government, it is refreshing that secondary teachers are throwing their weight behind the campaign for a better deal for children with special needs.

This highly commendable objective of Susie Hall, new president of ASTI, the country’s biggest second-level teaching union, is sure to win widespread public support.

However, Ms Hall will have her work cut out unless there is a sea-change in the niggardly attitude of this Government towards those on the margins of society.

Effectively, Education Minister Noel Dempsey must honour his pledge to bring educational disadvantage to the top of the agenda.

In spelling out her policies, Ms Hall has taken an important step towards regaining public confidence in teachers who held students to ransom in a series of school strikes during a deeply divisive pay dispute.

By focusing on the key issues of under-funding in education and the plight of students with special needs, Ms Hall is projecting a welcome image of a profession that is returning to its core values.