Dear Minister,

In a mood of growing anger, teachers are today taking their protests to the gates of Dail Eireann. Teachers are incensed at the way you have managed this dispute and are no longer willing to have their voices go unheard.

One positive aspect of this dispute is that Irish society is now, through the media, engaging in debate about our education system. However, we feel that neither the public nor the media have critically examined the reasons for the depth of anger among teachers.

Teachers entered this dispute with a negotiating level of 30 per cent. The issue is much bigger than just pay. It is about professional practice and it challenges Irish society to decide if we really want a high quality education service.

Minister, you claimed earlier this year that "Education is the engine that drives the Celtic Tiger economy". This "engine" is very often starved of fuel and its drivers are disillusioned.

In our Celtic Tiger economy why do we still have parents, students and teachers running raffles and flag days to keep a so-called professional service going? Too many times we have delivered curriculum changes only to discover your contribution in terms of resources and finance were more fantasy than reality.

Those within the PPF are asking why we in ASTI are so reluctant to enter benchmarking. You ask why we can't be like our two sister teaching unions. Although you, Minister, have the leadership of those unions within partnership, the grassroots remain discontented. The grassroots in our union have managed to get their voice heard at the top table.

Why have you continually refused to meet ASTI in order to hear why, in the unions' professional view, benchmarking is seen as a dangerous road? You will find that we are reasonable people who are open to change. We want change delivered in a professional way.

Minister, we need to meet and talk. The consequences of silence may well be the breakdown of all that is good in the present agenda. The benchmarking system is a blunt mechanism. Many of the changes would have a highly negative effect in the area of education. To use the language such as "performance inspection", "targets", "inputs" and "outputs" is to define people as products.

When teachers look over the Junior and Leaving Cert results each year, we celebrate those who achieved A or B standard, but with greater joy we celebrate the hard-working student who struggled to pass. Teachers are part of a value system which is holistic in its approach to the student. How can this be benchmarked?

Teachers know a lot about performance and accountability. We perform to a new audience every 40 minutes. We are accountable to parents, students, management, the Department of Education and the wider community. We see parents who very often have little quality time with their children. Performance related pay dominates their lives. They have a greater need of the school because of the demands of the workplace.

Minister, in education, teachers work as a team in an atmosphere of co-operation, with inter-teacher competition. Teachers may adapt to such a system, but the real loser will be the student.

Minister, you think within the framework of the PPF, but could you not engage in a little lateral thinking? You are the Government manager of this crisis, but you are digging deeper trenches. The consequence is that you may shortly be faced with a problem - a shortage of staff, lots of money and resources, but no personnel.

Minister, the PPF was negotiated when inflation was at 3 per cent. The PPF has shown it lacks flexibility. Surely we still operate in a democracy, and the fact that we are not in your club should not exclude us from talking to you.

History shows that all industrial disputes are resolved by discussion. So let's start negotiating by focusing on possibilities rather that parameters. These might include a commission to hear our fears about benchmarking, while also addressing the changed agenda in the form of an audit of the educational system.

The Government must commit itself to putting education on a professional footing. Re-visit the arbitrator's report. There is discretion to address our pay concerns under the early-settlers clause.

Teachers are willing to commit themselves to change. They need to be involved in drawing up a process that reflects good practice and is well resourced. Teachers, students and parents want this dispute resolved. We, as teachers are available to talk. Are you?

Yours sincerely, Noel Buckley

Noel Buckley teaches religion at Presentation Secondary School, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.