Remarks by Máire Ní Chuinneagáin, president of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), at the union's annual congress in Salthill Hotel, Galway, 5-7 April 2010:

Introduction
A Leas uachtarán, a Aoíanna uaisle, a Chomhúinteoirí, agus a chairde, I welcome you all to Galway, the city of the Tribes, to the 142nd Congress of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.

At the outset let me thank most sincerely the team of teachers here in Galway who have made all of the local arrangements for this conference. I want to acknowledge the work of the officials in Head Office who have worked hard to get us up and running this week. I particularly want to thank you, the delegates, who this week give of your time, knowledge, skills and expertise to your union.

At the present time, leadership in the trade union movement is not for the faint hearted.

Economic Backdrop
Although it is a personal privilege for me to address you here today as INTO President, I take no pleasure in outlining to you the backdrop against which we meet this year.

This year’s INTO Congress takes place against the most serious challenge facing this state since its inception. Today, we as Irish citizens, trade unionists and teachers, face challenges which are arguably greater than those faced by any generation before us. These truly are, as Jack O’Connor president of ICTU said last week, “unique times”.

A previous generation may have built an independent state. We have to be part of rebuilding an independent state, having surrendered our financial and economic freedom to the international markets and money lenders. And economic colonialism may be more difficult to overthrow than political and military colonialism.

As a result of this government’s policies and speculators’ greed, the economy has crashed spectacularly. Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, has rocketed. Emigration is now the default option for thousands of citizens. Workers and those on welfare have been demonized and then penalized. Public services and small businesses are being decimated and vital capital investment curtailed.

The wealth of recent years has been squandered and our financial futures mortgaged to pay for the criminal deeds of the few. The NAMA revelations in the Dáil last week show the extent of the deception, the result of which is downward spiral for ordinary workers, local indigenous businesses, and vulnerable members of our society.

But instead of concerted, radical and determined action to begin to turn around the situation, this government appears determined to pursue policies that will burden this and future generations with horrific debt. Our government appears to want to turn recession into full blown depression. Their only plan, it seems, is to cling on at all costs to the wreckage of their own disastrous economic policies.

Instead of reconstructing a sense of common purpose, civic solidarity and mutual dependence, our government equates patriotism with giving forty billion to the lifeless Anglo Irish Bank, the same again to the other banks, while slashing the income of workers, welfare recipients, and those with disabilities.

Let’s look at what that means in real terms:

• Underinvestment in education will continue. Every year for the foreseeable future, the equivalent of the annual education budget will be used simply to pay the interest on the NAMA debt.
• For the foreseeable future every ordinary Irish family will be paying back a total of €27,000 for the bank bail-out while at the same time struggling with raising young families, providing third level education for their children, and meeting the costs of inflated mortgages dating from the land speculator boom era.
• A total of three year’s national income will be used to shore up Ireland’s banking system.
• In the Ireland of today unwanted hotel rooms and unsold apartments sit side by side with prefabs that pass for classrooms.

That is the legacy of the elite band of financial joy riders whom we are now forced to bail-out. As a result, ordinary working men and women in every part of the country are not only fearful for their own future but for their children’s future. Most public servants have been hit particularly hard:

• All of us have suffered an unprecedented attack on our wages;
• Our pensions are in clear and present danger;
• Our pay has been cut - not once but twice;
• On top of that, we are paying the same increased taxes as every other worker.

For objecting to this unfairness, further cuts are threatened. Our adequate pensions are threatened in a race to the bottom because private sector pensions have crashed due to the worst management of those funds in the world.

There was no envy of public service pensions while the markets roared. It’s like the boy racer suddenly casting an envious eye on his mother’s family saloon after he has wrapped his sports car round a lamp post. And all the while we watch untold billions being borrowed because our taxation system is too narrow and imbalanced to pay for proper public services.

Teachers are angry and rightly so.

• We are angry at the waste of taxpayer’s public money going to bail out banks that lost the run of themselves in an orgy of speculation while government turned a blind eye as long as donations were collected in the tent down the road in Ballybrit.
• We are angry at the devastation in employment that we see all around us and the inertia of government to do anything about it.
• We are angry at the resultant cutbacks in public services and community schemes which are now needed more than ever.
• We are angry at the persistent suggestions by some, through the media over the past year, that the public service is overpaid and overstaffed.
• We are angry now that we find ourselves in the position that we have to agree to an unpalatable agreement in order to avoid further pay cuts.
• We are angry at a government agenda to drive down wages throughout the economy in the most concerted attack against labour in a hundred years.

Anger is understandable, reasonable and rational but anger is not a policy.

Proposed Agreement
That is why we engaged in weeks of industrial action throughout the public service to force the government into talks. As a result of those talks we have a proposed public service agreement which we will be discussing here at Congress and which will be going to our members for ballot.

The economic climate will continue to be extremely difficult for everyone. These proposals, while unpalatable in many ways, hold out the hope that public services can be protected and that some certainty can be delivered on pay, jobs and pensions with the prospect of restoring pay cuts over time if savings can be generated.

If accepted these proposals have the potential to ensure:

• No further cuts in public service pay, despite the government’s clear intention of further substantial cuts to public spending;
• A process to begin reversal of the pay cuts over time;
• No compulsory redundancies;
• A good degree of pension protection for existing members and negotiations over any proposed changes to pensions for new entrants.

I cannot guarantee that pay scales will be restored. That will depend on savings coming from public service transformation. But agreement on a mechanism to restore pay scales over time is an advance on the current situation. The commitment that there will be no further pay cuts offers the prospect of some financial stability for members, which will be of benefit to members struggling with reduced family income.
I do not pretend to like this proposed agreement, but it does offer a way forward.

Primary Education
Moving on to the specifics of primary education, colleagues, I am proud to be a public service worker, and I am proud to be a primary teacher. The primary teachers of Ireland are serving this country well. Primary teaching is a quality public service.

Government demands for a more effective, modernized transformed public service make me angry. When it comes to primary education, transformation is in government’s own hands and the recipe is very simple.

• Stop making teachers' lives more difficult,
• End the demoralization and devaluing of the profession,
• Provide the necessary funding to run modern fit-for-purpose schools,
• Cut out all the unnecessary wasteful bureaucratic nonsense that has developed in the system over the last two decades,
• Concentrate on providing decent funding and investment.

Great tomes of official guidance, policy documents, information requirements and glossy publications descend on schools with alarming regularity, all demanding responses from overworked principals whose middle management teams are being dismantled. It’s bizarre that a government that can’t regulate headshops can swamp schools in regulations. Take for example Section 29 procedures.

It’s time to back principal teachers – if a school is full it’s full. Look at NEWB requirements. Data is demanded about every pupil from a service that cannot meet the needs of children at risk. I could go on forever. 

When you are as poorly funded as Irish primary schools, money matters. Schools need adequate funding without having to levy additional voluntary funding from parents just to keep the show on the road. I am always amused by the big idea for health reform here and in Britain - money should follow the patient. We have that in education here. The only problem is that not enough money follows the primary pupil.

Government’s actions over the past year have left teachers feeling demoralised, dispirited and under-valued. If we want to give our children the best, then we must start with the teachers. We are fortunate in Irish primary schools. We get the best teachers, we train them well and we must reward them well. Why is it that in the financial world obscene bonuses can be paid because you need to reward the best but when it comes to teaching those rules do not apply?. We attract the best. We need to reward the best. 

There is no limit to what any child can achieve. The only limit is what the state is prepared to invest. We must once and for all tackle the causes and not the symptoms of educational disadvantage. Self confidence, self belief and life chances depend on a decent education. It is the most valuable gift one generation can give to another. It must not be the privilege of the few, open to those who can pay.

Education is the birthright of every Irish child. We have robbed this generation of their financial futures. The least we can do is to give them an educational future.

And that means educational improvement. As a nation we must supplement our knowledge skills with innovation. This does not start at third or fourth level. It starts in primary schools. Innovation is not possible in under-resourced over-crowded science classes. Progress in mathematics is not possible until every child has access to a learning support teacher for mathematics when they need it. Average in world league tables in maths and science isn’t good enough but it’s a superb return on a way below average investment.

The standard response to our calls for smaller classes is that the quality of teachers is more important. I have no argument with that. But when you have the best teachers you have to improve other factors that impact on quality and the most basic improvement needed is an end to overcrowded classes. Class size still matters.

We welcome the improvements in the Revised Programme for Government. This must be a national priority. It’s bad enough that our economy is getting left behind in world terms, we cannot afford to let other countries out-educate us.

I do believe that we need to move to a four year BEd and give consideration to reinstating the interview as part of teacher selection. Finland, the world education leader, has done this. There, teaching is a high prestige profession.

There is one vital issue that needs to be addressed. Teachers are not super-humans. Occasionally they get sick. When this happens pupils are entitled to a fully qualified supply panel teacher, not an untrained babysitter or supervisor. The previous minister’s decision to abolish supply panels is a disgrace. I won’t labour this point. I know it will be well aired this week.

Underperformance
Another standard response to calls for more investment in teacher quality is the line about being unable to sack a poorly performing teacher. You can. It happens -if only occasionally - at primary level. That says more about the quality of teachers than anything else.

We have procedures under Section 24 of the Education Act which provide for due process and fair procedures in these circumstances. What we don’t have is support for schools when the issue arises, and this needs to be provided. Principals should not be left to manage alone and unsupported and in any school where a Section 24 procedure is proposed specialist teams must be available.

Buildings
Another area in need of transformation is our school buildings. It is more difficult to work co-operatively or innovatively when every shared piece of equipment or every joint venture with another class or teacher means putting on coats and going out in the rain or snow. We need to build, refurbish and extend more schools than ever. I fully acknowledge and recognise the work of the public servants who manage the system. The only thing that’s lacking is sufficient investment to modernise all our schools.

Gaeilge
Táim mar bhall de COGG, An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta & Gaelscolaíochta. Tá i bhfad níos mó bainte amach ag COGG maidir le soláthar téacsleabhar agus áiseanna teagaisc i nGaeilge in ocht mbliana ná mar a baineadh amach le 30 bliana roimhe sin. Tá a lán áiseanna curtha ar fáil ag COGG atá oiriúnach do scoileanna Béarla freisin.

Chuir sé alltacht orm gur moladh deireadh a chur le COGG in ainneoin an éacht oibre atá déanta aige. Fáiltíonn CMÉ mar sin roimh an deontas breise ata á thabhairt do COGG i mbliana chun tús a chur leis an obair Clár Gaeilge do scoileanna Béarla a ullmhú, chun áiseanna ar líne a chur ar fáil agus chun téacsanna don dara leibhéal a chur ar fáil.

Ach impím ar an Aire cead a thabhairt do COGG an fhoireann a fhostú chun tabhairt faoin obair seo. Ní féidir obair a dhéanamh gan foireann. Tá deis anois ag an Aire nua dea-scéal a thabhairt do mhúinteoirí bunscoile na tire - go mbeadh clár maith tarraingteach do mhúineadh na Gaeilge ar fáil dóibh.

Agus mé ag trácht ar an nGaeilge, cuireann CMÉ fáilte roimh fhoilsiú na dréacht straitéise don Ghaeilge ag an rialtas. Ach ní tarlóidh aon rud gan plean eidhmiúcháin nó gan buiséad.

Tá roinnt mhaith á éileamh ar an gcóras oideachais. Beidh Múinteoirí bunscoile na tire sásta a gcuid a dhéanamh ach caithfidh na hachmhainní a bheith ar fáil chun an obair a dhéanamh.

Disadvantage
Poverty and education disadvantage never were confined to disadvantaged areas. But, because of the downturn, poverty and disadvantage can now be found everywhere, from the leafy suburbs to the inner city. Last year government cut funding for free books. This year it will be restored but it will be nowhere near the level needed to meet need. I know the huge voluntary and unacknowledged work that schools and teachers do to alleviate the costs of schooling, which are the direct result of state under-funding of primary schools.

This year I want to use my position as president to make two specific appeals in this regard:

• I appeal to schools not to change any text books this year unless absolutely necessary;
• I appeal to publishers to hold off on new editions for the present.
• I also appeal to schools not to use “no uniform” days as fundraisers which put pressure on some families.

With regard to DEIS schools, evaluation in literacy and numeracy is planned this year. The difficulty here is that this evaluation does not reflect the way the schools are resourced.

The core initiatives of DEIS, Reading Recovery and Maths Recovery, are staffed from the general allocation for learning support, which means that many children who need learning support do not get it. For these schemes to succeed, they need a separate resource outside of the General Allocation. While a small number of children benefit, it is hard to see how the overall scores can rise dramatically.

Therefore, in evaluating these schemes, gains in literacy and numeracy in the short term are not the suitable criteria. Teachers see many other benefits such as improved attendance, higher rate of transfer to second level schools, and other improvements which are not easily quantified. The real gains are visible in the long term.

Special Education
Special schools are a vital component of catering for children with special needs in the country. Four years ago the DES commissioned a report on the future of Special Schools. This report is with the National Council for Special Education since last December.

We are calling for a policy framework to be developed and implemented from Sept 2011 to allow time to deal with all the issues of staffing and resourcing in Special Schools.

In the revised Programme for Government a commitment was given to a costed multiannual plan for the implementation of the EPSEN Act.

Even allowing for the economic difficulties, we must ensure the out most vulnerable children have the necessary staffing and supports to achieve their full potential.

Early Childhood Education
The INTO gave a cautious welcome to last year’s announcement by Government that a free pre-school year would be available for all children in the year prior to starting school.

A universal pre-school year for all children has long been a call of the INTO. However, to ignore the expertise within the primary sector and to leave the provision of a pre-school service to market forces is not the way forward.

Notwithstanding that there are many pre-school services of quality in the community and voluntary sector, it is disappointing that the levels of qualifications demanded for preschool leaders, at level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework, are unacceptably low.

We know from Early Start what a difference it makes to have a qualified teacher and a qualified childcare worker working together to provide a high quality early years educational experience for three-year-old children. It is our view that pre-schools in receipt of state funding should be led by qualified graduates in Early Years’ Education.

Curriculum
Curriculum innovation and change is inevitable. We need a review of the Primary School Curriculum for infant classes in light of the publication of AISTEAR, the early years' curriculum framework. In the context of such a review, the issue of full early immersion in scoileanna lán Ghaeilge could be addressed.

There is also a need for professional development for infant teachers, in light of the publication of AISTEAR, particularly in relation to play and activity based learning in infant classrooms.

Child protection
We have all been shocked and appalled by the revelations of the Ryan and Murphy reports. I want two things from Government and I am not asking, I am demanding:

• in-service for every teacher on the Child Protection Guidelines;
• enough experienced social workers to deal with issues as they arise.

There is no point in waiting for some other report in 10 or 20 years’ time into the inadequacies of the current systems. It is time to have mandatory reporting, but mandatory reporting to an overstretched and understaffed social service will not prevent abuse.

Conclusion
Despite our economic despondency, primary teachers have a lot to be proud of:

• While teaching the second largest classes in Europe, we have implemented a completely revised curriculum even if it is overcrowded and under-resourced.
• Our schools cater for children with diverse educational needs, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and from diverse religions or none.
• We have included thousands of pupils with special needs into mainstream schools and classes.
• We have integrated thousands of students for whom English is an additional language into our schools.
• We have embraced ICT despite government’s miserable funding record.
• We have new methods of inspection, evaluation and transparency in schools.
• We have testing of pupils with standardised and national literacy and numeracy tests.
• We have WSE reports published on the web.
• There is a very high level of public satisfaction with our work. We have a world class education system staffed by world class teachers.

You do a complex job, one that is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding; a job that involves planning, evaluating, reviewing…

You as teachers can be a model of economic recovery. Every day in your schools you show an ability and talent to address problems, to find solutions, to overcome obstacles. Your willingness to work hard and creatively means we have the education for our children to equip them to meet the challenges. We can work together to meet them.

As a nation and as teachers we must work together. However, as teachers we are becoming somewhat tired of hearing the phrase “We must all pull together” while we see only the public service and those on social welfare being penalised.

We can and must work together…. as a nation, as colleagues and as a union.

Colleagues, I am proud to be a public service worker and I am proud to be a primary teacher. The primary teachers of Ireland are serving this country well. Primary teaching is quality public service. 

Máire Ní Chuinneagáin