THE Teachers Union of Ireland has expressed major reservations about the Department of Education's proposed process known as "whole school inspection".
In a document published on the first day of the TUI's annual congress, the union insists that existing arrangements regarding school inspection be continued irrespective of any new arrangements.
The union rejects quality control mechanisms, based on "post hoc deficit judgments of students, teachers or principals". It is opposed to the introduction of change without negotiation and agreement. An agreed process of school planning should be put in place before WSI is introduced, according to the document.
Measures which introduce comparisons between schools, publication of inspection reports and direct involvement of parents in pre- and post-inspection meetings are also opposed. Parents can best be represented through a school's board of management, according to the TUI.
There are concerns about inspection reports from which individual teachers can be identified and the possibility of unrecognised extra work for teachers and principals.
But the union states it is committed to accountability. The TUI believes quality in education should be assured by measures such as the reduction of the pupil-teacher ratio to pre-1982 measures, in-service education for teachers and principals, and school-based planning, facilitated by adequate time and agreed guidelines.
Advisory services, adequate psychological and remedial help could also contribute to quality. Other suggested measures include consultation with teachers in developing regional plans and national curricula and the provision of a welfare service for teachers.
The working of the new apprenticeship scheme was the subject of a research report commissioned by the TUI, also published yesterday. The study, which included 14 colleges, found that, in general, assessment and testing methods prescribed by FAS manuals were not compatible with the methods of assessment used by the colleges. The new methods of assessment and testing are causing great difficulties for lecturers and could be a major cause of the system running into difficulties, according to the report.
The Inter College Committee on Apprenticeship is working on a college manual adopted from the FAS, manuals and it is hoped that this will become the standard. The TUI document concluded: "It is obvious that until the assessment, testing, certification and curriculum are agreed nationally between FAS; and the education establishment, the goals set out in the change from time-served apprenticeship to standards-based probably won't he achieved."