ASTI - Ireland's main second level teachers union

New teachers have been unfairly targeted

Following a series of cuts to new teachers’ pay, a typical teacher who finds work for the first time in February 2012 will be paid 30% less than they would have earned 18 months before.

The ASTI has raised this unjust targeting of new teachers with the Minister for Education and Skills and in meeting with the Department of Education and Skills, and has denounced the unfair treatment of new teachers publicly at every opportunity. We will continue to argue the case for fair and equal pay for all teachers and in any future restoration or improvement of teachers' salaries, this will be a priority.

The ASTI also examining the possibility of taking a claim against the new appointees pay scale on equality grounds.  

New entrants also face the imposition of a proposed new public service pension scheme, which would mean teachers will work longer, pay more and get less.

The ASTI is considering challenging the legality of the new pension scheme which, according to independent analysis, will compel some new teachers entering the scheme at the beginning of their career to pay more into the scheme than they will ever get out. The teacher unions are currently seeking a hearing before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on the matter.

Keep up with the ASTI campaign against the imposition of this unfair pension scheme.

Teachers are not immune to the jobs crisis gripping the country. Poor employment prospects for new teachers have been exacerbated by recent Government policies, which saw up to 1,000 second-level teaching jobs lost with the increase in pupil-teacher ratio in 2009 and a further 700 are to go this year because of changes to allocation.

Over a quarter of second-level teachers are in temporary employment. A typical teacher will spend up to 8 years in temporary and part-time employment before finding a full-time job. Meanwhile the moratorium on posts of responsibility denies any promotional opportunities to young teachers.

The ASTI is committed to pursuing quality job prospects for teachers. We sought a panel system for the filling of teacher vacancies in order to ensure new teachers are prioritised. This resulted in some success when the Department published a circular governing the filling of temporary vacancies. The ASTI is also calling for a review of the allocation of teachers as part of the development of a sustainable policy for second-level teacher recruitment, retention and employment.

The ASTI is committed to campaigning to reverse budget cutbacks and to provide real employment opportunities for teachers.

A key theme at this year’s Annual Convention will be the plight of new teachers, young teachers and part-time and temporary teachers. At Convention, motions will be adopted and will be pursued by the ASTI over the coming year.

New teachers’ concerns were a key theme at last year’s convention, at which a student teacher spoke about how she felt unfairly targeted as a young teacher. In advance of Convention 2011, the ASTI conducted a Survey of newly qualified teachers. The research found that despite a strong commitment to the teaching profession, the majority of teaching graduates were pessimistic about their career and are angry about the inferior conditions imposed upon them.