Crisis in teaching: As ASTI members end their ballot on the Government's €34 per hour offer on supervision, Michael Moriarty says the morale crisis among teachers will not be resolved by money alone

The year 2001 may be always remembered as an annus horribilus for all the education partners, as the disharmony and industrial unrest in the education sector featured prominently on the front pages of national newspapers.

Now, we have reached a critical stage in the negotiation process, as 17,000 ASTI members ballot on whether or not to accept the Government's pay offer for substitution and supervision.

The ASTI executive has recommended rejection of the offer of €34 per hour for a minimum of 37 hours a year for teachers who volunteer for substitution and supervision duties. The other second-level teacher union, the TUI, has rejected the Government's offer and this has further increased the uncertainty about the restoration of industrial peace in our schools.

Realising that a critical stage in this crisis in the education sector has been reached, Minister Woods has recently clarified that the €2,222 offered last year by the Labour Court to teachers for making up lost examination time and the €444 per annum per teacher for new computer software and hardware is also on offer. Both offers appear to have certain conditions attached.

Equally significant, I believe, was the very real signal from the Minister that negotiations may take place at the end of the present school year that could result in the substitution/supervision payment being made pensionable. As this has been a core demand of the ASTI, perhaps the union's members may make a further leap of faith and respond positively to the financial package which the Minister is now offering. School managers hope that further conflict can be avoided through further constructive engagement of the education partners to safeguard the interests of pupils and also lead to some resolution of this long, drawn-out saga.

The entire education sector is being particularly demoralised and the long-term ramifications of the current impasse are potentially devastating and may fundamentally alter the profile of teaching and teachers for decades.

The economic miracle of the 1990s, which was sustained by well-educated young people leaving our schools has, however, promoted commerce to a position of central and unquestioned importance in Irish society. In Celtic Tiger Ireland the businessman became the new mentor in the local community, displacing the teacher to some extent. Failure to recognise the essential contribution of the teacher in the fabric of Irish society is, I believe, a particularly unfortunate outcome of the booming 1990s.

All of us in the education sector recognise the need to restore a sense of dignity and esteem to the teaching profession. The Minister has announced his intention to establish a Commission on Teaching and Learning. I feel that this commission offers an opportunity to examine and review the underlying causes of the present industrial unrest, offering a platform for engagement which is much broader than the issue of financial remuneration. The malaise affecting teachers and teaching will not be resolved by money alone and the Minister's commission provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the nature of education provision in our schools.

Managerial authorities, including the IVEA, have consistently engaged in negotiations to seek a resolution of this dispute. We are concerned that, at second-level, the TUI has already rejected the offer and the ASTI ballot is linked to an ASTI recommendation for rejection. We hope that reason may prevail at this late time so that all education partners can safeguard the interests of pupils in our schools.

As managers, however, we must prepare for the worst-case scenario and seek to keep our schools functioning. If school closures occur again the pupils in our care will be the greatest victims.

If the nature of teaching as a vocation and teachers as professionals is fundamentally changed, then surely there is a crying need for independent analysis of the education sector and the changed profile of the teacher. We must first identify and thereafter tackle the issues that afflict the sector. The commissioning of such a study may provide a means to an eventual resolution of the underlying causes of the current unrest.

School managerial authorities value the partnership between teachers and parents at school level. This partnership has been challenged and threatened over the past year, yet has prevailed. Further industrial unrest may change the characteristics of that unique partnership for the worst. For all our sakes, I hope that we can listen effectively to each other and respond with vision and determination to maintain sustainable partnership in our schools.

The importance of a functioning and dynamic education sector cannot be underestimated. Schools are the building blocks of a vibrant and healthy society where all of us - parent, teacher, and manager - acknowledge our duty of care for those in our charge. The time has come to re-build bridges.

Michael Moriarty is general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association, the management body for the VEC sector.