The anger and pent-up frustration of secondary teachers was graphically illustrated at the annual conference earlier this year of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI). Scores of mostly middle-aged teachers came to the rostrum to complain about how their profession has been run down.

Their faces flushed with anger, some delegates complained how young whiz-kids in the IT sector and elsewhere were raking in 60 or 70K in wages. There was plenty of loose talk about the expenses, the perks and the share options available for many in the private sector. But teachers, the very people who had helped propel many of these young professionals into the top jobs, were left with the short straw.

For the public, the sense of grievance within the teaching profession may be difficult to understand. Irish teachers remain among the best-paid in the world. Only Korea, Germany and Switzerland pay a teacher with 15 years' experience more, according to an OECD table of 23 nations circulated at this year's ASTI conference.

Secondary teachers also enjoy longer holidays and a shorter working day than most of their counterparts elsewhere. They are entitled to 76 days' annual leave plus five days' "personal leave". They work for 22 teaching hours a week. In fairness, many work longer hours preparing lessons, correcting homework and helping with extra-curricular activities. The school year, at just 167 days, is also very short by international standards, something which creates difficulties for school managers, principals - and parents.

The Department of Education, for example, is now considering the closure of schools for a week next April to run oral and practical exams; the short school year makes it difficult to timetable them at any other time.

Important programmes such as relationship and sexuality education, computer training or PE often struggle to find space on a crowded timetable. In recent months, the National Association of Principals and Deputy School Principals has expressed concern about the continual erosion of the school year.

Parents also feel the effects of the short school year. They often have to take time off work to attend parent/ teacher meetings. Teaching time is reduced to allow teachers attend in-service training and other courses. In other systems, teachers usually cover such meetings and courses as part of their overall contract.

Irish secondary teachers must also be among the least accountable in the OECD. Whereas visits by school inspectors are common in primary and vocational schools, they are still something of an event in secondary schools. Many ASTI members with 20 years of classroom experience have never been observed by a Department of Education inspector. For the past 20 years, it is ASTI policy that its members are not obliged to teach in front of an inspector, unless they are prepared to do so.

Teachers are immune from private-sector work practices in other ways. The hierarchy in the staff room is much the same as it has been for a generation and more. Although there is open competition for the posts of principal and deputy principal, most teachers continue to be promoted on the basis of seniority alone.

In most voluntary secondary schools, the most senior suitable person is appointed. There is no real incentive for the excellent teacher, no disincentive for the teacher who is not pushing his or her weight. On a day-to-day basis, the principal and vice-principal - and the board of management - manage the school. Senior teachers have various responsibilities (such as checking school lockers or chasing up latecomers) but the kind of middle management structure evident in other jobs is absent.

The ASTI - in return for the 30 per cent it is seeking - is offering no more productivity, no new management structures, no greater accountability. It wants the money with no strings attached.

TEACHERS, in truth, have a decent case for more money. Teaching has fallen behind other graduate professions. A decade after graduation, teachers earn about £9,000 less than other graduates. And the job has become more complex and difficult. Students and their parents are much less deferential. Their expectations for what can be achieved in the classroom are higher.

Teachers must also cope with the spill-over from a plethora of social problems. There is a kernel of truth in the slogan adopted by the ASTI for their recent advertising campaign - "Teachers teach more than you know".

Retaining a highly motivated, high-quality teaching service also serves society. The British experience, where the morale of the teaching profession was broken, represents a cautionary tale. The ASTI, however, is vulnerable to the charge that it wants private sector pay without private sector practices and working conditions. It would help its own case if it was much less defensive about issues such as productivity and accountability. Sensible figures in the other teaching unions know that teachers cannot forever remain cut off from the kind of disciplines common in other areas of work.

The ASTI, by contrast, has chosen to dig its heels in.

But the union would build much greater public support if it was much more pro-active on productivity and accountability. It should be saying to the Government: pay us like other professionals because we are ready to adopt the kind of working conditions and practices other professionals take for granted.

As it is, secondary teachers want private sector benefits. But are they willing to accept its downside - longer hours, more accountability and shorter holidays?

e-mail: sflynn@irish-times.ie