THE DEPARTMENT of Education will step up efforts next week to avert threatened “chaos’’ in second-level schools this autumn.
But the second-level teaching unions – which rejected the Croke Park public service reform deal – remain strongly opposed to the revised teaching contract.
They also claim that the easing of the promotions embargo on schools does not go far enough.
Peter MacMenamin, general secretary of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), has warned of “potential chaos’’ in schools from next month, with hundreds of key middle-management posts left unfilled.
Yesterday, Department of Education officials held separate talks with the two teaching unions which rejected the deal – the TUI and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).
Talks were also held with the primary teachers’ union, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) whose members backed the deal.
The leadership of both the ASTI and the TUI have been given a mandate by their executives to seek “clarification’’ on aspects of the Croke Park deal. This proposes an extra hour’s work per week and contractual changes for teachers.
It is understood the department has still to explain how the additional working time will be implemented in schools. At a critical meeting on Tuesday, the ASTI will review the clarification on offer and assess whether further talks are worthwhile.
The TUI executive will decide its next move on Friday.
Last night, the department said it was “engaged in ongoing discussions with a view to establishing if a way forward can be agreed between the various parties’’.
The Government had hoped the easing of the promotions embargo in June would boost relations with the teaching unions.
But both the ASTI and the TUI are angry about the revised structure which will allow schools appoint assistant principals while leaving hundreds of special duties or middle management posts unfilled.
School managers have warned that schools with fewer than 500 pupils will still be unable to appoint a year head for each year group.
Minister for Education Mary Coughlan insists there can be no return to the situation whereby half of all teachers had promotion posts.
New ASTI general secretary Pat King has also expressed great disappointment at the “very limited nature” of the change.
Both the TUI and the ASTI have directed members not to undertake duties left vacant by retiring post-holders or to agree to the reallocation of these duties.
As a result, many schools have had to operate without any middle management. The huge number of teachers retiring this year because of changed pension entitlements has exacerbated the problem.
The second-level unions are also reluctant to lift other directives which ban co-operation with parent/teacher meetings and limit co-operation with school inspections and development planning.
INTO members have already agreed to lift these work-to-rule directives.
Union sources say there is little stomach for industrial action by teachers in the current economic climate. But there is also what one called “real anger’’ about the “vague nature of the Croke Park deal. Things could spiral out of control”, he said.
Among some union officials, there is concern that the split among the teacher unions over the Croke Park deal may make it easier for the Government to face down opposition from the TUI and the ASTI.
The INTO backed the pay agreement when it was endorsed at a meeting of the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in June.
The ban on promotions was introduced to cut the €500 million annual bill for allowances and promotion posts. Schools had been unable to fill assistant principal posts, each worth €8,520 annually, and special duties posts each worth €3,769.