ASTI - Ireland's main second level teachers union

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The ASTI has stated that while it welcomes the move by the Minister for Education and Skills Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to urge school managements to prioritise qualified out-of-work teachers for substitute and temporary teaching employment, the union is dismayed that the Government’s Education (Amendment) Bill will allow schools to bring in personnel who are not registered teachers to work in a teaching capacity.

 

“On the one hand the Minister is urging schools to make use of the national resource that is our highly-qualified registered young teacher graduates, hundreds of whom are looking for work. On the other hand, her Government is legislating that schools can employ non-teachers in a teaching capacity,” said ASTI President Jack Keane today.

 

Mr Keane said the Bill, which will amend section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, is not in the educational interests of children and young people. The ASTI is calling on the Minister to review the Bill as a matter of urgency.

 

“The regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland is a necessary and positive step which serves to protect the educational interests of children and young people. It is well recognised that the quality of teaching is vital to the quality of learning in schools. The Teaching Council of Ireland was established in 2006 and in order to register, teachers must satisfy a high standard of qualifications and other criteria set out by the Council. Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act aims to further the role of the Teaching Council in underpinning quality assurance within the teaching profession.

 

“However, the role of the Teaching Council will be undermined if the Education (Amendment) Bill is passed into law because it will allow personnel who are not registered with the Teaching Council to work in schools in a teaching capacity.”

 

Mr Keane says the amendment comes at a time when hundreds of qualified second-level teachers all over the country are looking for work due to the Budget 2009 decision to cut the numbers of teachers in second-level schools. Recent teacher graduates are particularly vulnerable and many are now leaving the country to seek employment elsewhere.

 

“There is no valid reason why schools should be employing un-registered personnel to work in classrooms when there are hundreds of high calibre teachers out of work.”

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