IPPN

Published: 27 October 2010

UNIONS and school managers want agreement on what extra duties teachers should do in the extra hour a week required of them under the Croke Park public service pay and reform deal.

The additional hour was to have been provided from the start of the school year last month, but talks on implementation have only got under way in earnest in recent weeks.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation and Association of Secondary Teachers’ Ireland have both engaged in talks but the Teachers’ Union of Ireland remains outside until the end of next week at least, when a ballot result will determine if members are to suspend industrial action that has led to the Department of Education refusing to negotiate with their officials.

The wording in the deal finalised earlier this year states teachers would be available for the extra hour per week to facilitate duties such as school planning, continuous professional development, induction of new teachers, substitution and supervision, at the discretion of each school’s management. But the Irish Examiner has learned that unions and bodies representing management of schools both favour more specific instructions that would prevent what one education source described as a "carte blanche" approach that could lead to wide discrepancies between schools in the delivery of the extra time.

Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com