If teachers lose the fight on discipline in the classrooms, then Irish society will lose the battle on the streets in years to come, the ASTI conference in Killarney was told yesterday.
According to an ASTI survey of some 1,700 teachers, more than half of teachers have experienced verbal abuse, while nearly 30 per cent had considered leaving the profession as a result of student indiscipline.
Eight per cent of respondents stated that they had feelings of fear, and 43 per cent of teachers described themselves as "stressed out".
Mr Larry McGuinness, of the ASTI's discipline committee, said it was not acceptable that it had taken a year for the ASTI to get an appointment with the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, to discuss its national action plan on student discipline.
"Indiscipline is now such a problem that it is driving our members out of their chosen profession. This cannot be allowed to continue. No other self-respecting profession would tolerate such a scenario, and we will not either."
Describing the findings of the survey as a "litany of lamentation on the sorry state of many of Irish schools from a discipline point of view", he said he was calling on the Mr Dempsey to "forget about school league tables and concentrate on the real issue of student indiscipline".
Ms Máire Ní Chiarba, chairwoman of the ASTI's discipline committee, said the message from the survey was positive.
"70 per cent of teachers believe that school discipline policy is effective in promoting positive student behaviour. 81 per cent believe that disruption in classes is caused by a small group of students.
"However, 71 per cent of teachers had experience of classes in which some students engaged in continuous disruptive behaviour. Classes in which some students were under the influence of alcohol or drugs were experienced by 33 per cent of teachers surveyed. The disruptive behaviour of a minority compromises the quality of the learning which takes place in the classroom.
"The fact is that indiscipline is pushing teachers out of the profession. It is not good for students or for schools to have a high turnover of teachers," she said.
President-elect of the ASTI, MS Susie Hall, said there was a need for the media to focus on the rights of the majority of students in Ireland. Frequently, she said, the impact of indiscipline on these students was overlooked. "There is a serious and significant problem, and that problem has got to be rooted out. Boards of management and the Department of Education have a duty to provide an atmosphere where teachers can teach and students can learn without interruption." Ms Máire Ní Laoire, from North Cork, said parents needed supports which society did not provide. She believed teachers also needed reasonable working conditions in order to deliver to all students in their care.