I thank the Chair for affording me this opportunity to raise on the adjournment this matter of urgency. It is the question of the payment of teachers in regional technical colleges and other third level institutions for the setting and marking of certificate and diploma examination papers. Because of this dispute there is a grave danger that examination papers will not be set for students who are candidates for certificates and diplomas this year.
The crux seems to have arisen because the Minister this year did not follow the pattern of last year's payments. Teachers were paid last year. I will read from a letter which came from the Department of Education and was received by the CEO of the Dublin City Vocational Education Committee on 27th June, 1975:
I refer to this Department's letters of 1st November, 1974, and 6th November, 1974, in relation to recompense for the setting and marking by certain members of the staff, who are teaching at third level in the Regional Technical and Dublin Colleges, of papers in examinations leading to the award of qualifications by the National Council for Educational Awards and other Professional qualifications.
In this connection I am to convey approval for payment by your Committee at the following rates to teachers involved in the setting and marking of papers in these examinations.
40p per script for first year (Certificate Level);
57p per script for second and third year (Diploma Level);
68p per script for fourth year or more;
subject to a minimum payment in respect of each paper as follows:
£18 for examinations at first year (Certificate Level),
£25 for examinations at second and third year (Diploma Level),
£30 for examinations at fourth year or more.
This approval is in respect of 1975 examinations only pending a final decision on the general question of the arrangements to be made for setting and marking of examination papers.
I understand it is the contention of the Minister that there was an arrangement in the hours agreement reached with these teachers in December, 1974, which covered this particular remuneration. The date of that hours agreement was 23rd December, 1974 and it covered not merely the teachers in question here but all teachers employed by vocational education committees throughout the country. This is one strong point that must be taken into consideration. Despite that fact, and the contention that there was an arrangement covering this in the hours agreement, the Minister still paid, per the letter I have read, in June, 1975. However, that is not the whole story. The Minister also paid the teachers in October, 1975, at an increased rate per paper. The letter to the CEO is dated 27th October, 1975, and reads:
I refer to the Department's letter of 21st May, 1975, in connection with recompense for the setting and marking by certain members of the staff who are teaching at third level in the Regional Technical and Dublin Colleges, of papers in examinations leading to the award of qualifications by the National Council for Educational Awards and other Professional qualifications.
In this connection, I am to inform you that the rate per script quoted should be amended to read as follows:
47p per script for first year (Certificate Level),
67p per script for second and third year (Diploma Level),
80p per script for fourth year or more.
The indication would seem to be that all the arrangements had been made prior to the Minister instructing the CEO that these rates should be paid.
The argument, if it is advanced, on the hours agreement in the circular letter, the sending out of which was dated 1st January, 1975, falls down. Otherwise the Minister would be acting ultra vires in permitting the payments subsequent to the hours agreement. This is a serious problem and the hour is very late for its solution. I have not the exact figure, but there are at least a couple of thousand students involved, in Kevin Street, Bolton Street and the various regional technical colleges. I have letters from students, some of them in the fourth year, who are perturbed at the possibility of no examinations at the end of this term. It is also true there are some examinations at the end of April. The House is rising today and we will not come back until 27th and this makes a decision by the Minister now very important.
At the moment the merits of the case, to a certain extent, are irrelevant, but I will deal with them briefly. In toto, there is not a great deal of money involved, but there is a great deal of anxiety and worry for students. There is also a principle involved. It may be argued that, seeing that the teachers who teach the courses in these colleges also set the papers, there is an internal element involved—that it could be contended that as the work is exclusively internal the ordinary emolument a teacher gets should cover it. On the other hand, it is true these teachers are setting and marking papers under the umbrella of the National Council for Education Awards, and this gives them in public form an element outside their particular colleges, a special matter that should attract extra money for the setting and marking of papers. It is the same as the marking of the leaving certificate papers and should carry with it extra monetary rewards.
"Pending a final decision", the words in the Minister's letter, are puzzling if he is arguing back to the hours agreement as I have outlined. The actual wording of the letter which was received on 27th June and dated Bealtaine 1975 was:
This approval is in respect of the 1975 examinations only pending a final decision of the general question of the arrangements to be made for setting and marking of examination papers.
A final decision had to be made. No further move on the part of the Department to negotiate on this subject was made. I am charging the Minister with neglect of duty for not seeing to it, at this late stage, that the way was made ready for these examinations so that students would be relieved of the anxiety they have in abundance when facing, say, a terminal fourth year examination.
I am here not purely to carp but to try to impress on the House that it is the plain duty of the Minister to announce a decision before he leaves the House that he is prepared to pay these teachers for the work they are doing, which is national work being certified by the National Council for Education Awards. I am afraid that the whole sector of third level non-university education is in a state of turmoil. This is one small aspect of it which, without very much expense, the Minister could smooth away and solve. I ask him to do so for the reasons I have stated, for the sake of the students and for educational reasons as well. It is an unhealthy thing that when some examinations should be held in the normal way at the end of April, neither students nor staff know whether or not they will be held. I am asking also for the sake of the country so that the Minister will not give the impression, as he is definitely giving at present, that he could not care less about this sector. We had parades and protests today dealing with this self-same sector. Here is a small problem the Minister could solve with a stroke of his pen and I am appealing to him to do so.
