Teachers likely to mark pay package 'not satisfactory' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 April 2010
IT was the shortest honeymoon period any Education Minister has ever had. Barely a wet week in the job Mary Coughlan was quickly immersed into the choppy waters of teachers' conferences.
It was not their finest week from the point of view of a weary public, which saw the protests at two of the conferences as a discourtesy to their guest. The third did not even invite her.
The same public was also confused by the split over the pay deal in the unions. For a time it looked as if the Teachers' Union of Ireland, which represents teachers in vocational schools, community colleges and Institutes of Technology, was isolated. Until then, it was the only union executive, along with the CPSU -- pilloried by the public for the passport chaos -- that recommended a rejection of the deal.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Appalled by teachers' loutish behaviour [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 April 2010
HAVING listened to the reception that Mary Coughlan received at the TUI conference on Wednesday and then the way in which Don Ryan of that union spoke to Dr Ed Walsh on Matt Cooper's Today FM show, I am not surprised that the youth of the country are going the way they are.
The rudeness displayed by these cossetted public servants is appalling.
I work for a small company in Waterford. Over the past year, we have lost five people to redundancy and taken a 10pc pay cut. Our salaries even before the pay cut were very modest.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Call for school management to take action against growing threat of racism [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 09 April 2010
SCHOOL management bodies have been urged to draft a detailed policy document specifically addressing the growing threat of racism in Ireland’s schools.
On the same day as the funeral of tragic Nigerian teenager Toyosi Shitta-bey, who was stabbed to death in Tyrrelstown last Friday, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said action is urgently needed to address a potential crisis within the country’s schools.
Noting the findings of a 2009 TUI behavioural and attitudes survey on racism in schools, the union’s deputy general secretary, Annette Dolan, said it was clear measures to tackle the issue were failing ethnic minority students.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Schools urged to address gay/lesbian student issue to avoid suicide risks [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 09 April 2010
SCHOOLS need directly to address and offer guidance to gay and lesbian students to avoid them becoming suicide risks, the ASTI conference was told yesterday.
Tony McKernan, (Limerick South), Equal Opportunities Committee, said a past survey had shown that half had been verbally abused and 33% had heard teachers make homophobic comments.
"The major risk to students in situations like this is suicide and, as teachers, we need to be extremely vigilant," he said.
School board row could escalate [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 09 April 2010
A CORK secondary school that does not have parent and teacher representation on its board of management could be challenged legally on the issue.
The last day of the ASTI’s annual conference heard that Ashton College was the only Protestant comprehensive school not to include such representation.
Jim King, Donegal, a member of the union’s CEC Advisory Committee, said one of the five Protestant comprehensive schools had still not provided teacher and parent representation on the board of management.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
