Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 27 Sep 1995

Vol. 456 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Inservice Courses for Teachers.

Mr. Martin

I must voice strong protest at the fact that the Minister for Education has not deemed it appropriate to come before the House tonight to respond to the Adjournment Debate on both local and national education issues. Given the number of phone calls which I received today from schools, principals, parents, teachers and national organisations representing the various partners in education, it is absolutely disgraceful that in relation to this specific issue the Minister did not see fit to come here herself or at least ask one of the Ministers of State at the Department of Education to come before the House to respond to this issue. It makes a mockery of the Adjournment Debate process. This Minister has a track record of ignoring the procedures of the House, of ignoring the valid attempts by Members to articulate local and national issues. The Minister has a responsibility to show more respect for this House, its various processes and mechanisms and its Members. I ask the Minister of State to convey my strong protest and opposition to the Minister.

I tabled the motion tonight in a constructive spirit. I am of the view that the Minister for Education should convene talks with all the partners in education immediately to prepare an agreed long term plan which would facilitate the organisation and delivery of inservice courses in a harmonious and smooth manner.

Inservice training is essential for meaningful curriculum reform. To facilitate the introduction of new leaving certificate syllabi inservice courses must be properly organised for teachers. However, in the context of the present row it is clear that the necessary preparations were not made in advance of this school year and full consultations did not take place with all the Departments involved.

Parents, principals and school managers are angry and extremely frustrated with the Minister's dictatorial approach while teachers are angry at the inefficient and incompetent way this issue was handled. Above all, these partners in education find it very difficult to understand the Minister's public denials of any major disruptions in the schools or of any knowledge of students being told to stay away from school tomorrow and Friday. I have received confirmation from numerous school principals that children were sent home from school last week and will be sent home tomorrow, Friday and next week and that the figure of 10,000 mentioned by Declan Duffy is by no means an exaggeration. Today I received confirmation from schools in Cork city which to all intents and purposes will be closed on Thursday and Friday. If this is the case in every county then it is clear that the figure of 10,000 is an underestimation.

The Minister's public statements have only served to annoy people more. For example, the TUI has categorically stated that at no stage did it agree with the Minister on her arrangements for these inservice courses while the National Parents' Council has stated that this was "a disaster waiting to happen". In a statement issued today the Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges complained that parents are not being listened to by the Department of Education despite the promises contained in the White Paper.

This morning Declan Duffy, the general secretary of the Secretariat of Secondary Schools, confirmed that "many students will be left doing very little in schools for the two days". It is important that we be honest about this. Thousands of students will be sent home tomorrow, the remainder in school will be supervised and essentially six normal teaching days will be lost as a result of the organisation of these inservice courses. The Minister should not so easily dismiss the concerns of principals and school managers who are vital to the successful organisation of the education system. The Minister should avail of this opportunity to articulate her faith in the principals and managers of secondary schools and her confidence in their judgment and competence. They know what is happening on the ground and should be listened to. If the Minister had contacted principals, parents and teachers she would not have been so dismissive of their views.

It is generally agreed that the industrial relations environment in education is very poor. The Minister has contributed to this climate by her failure to adopt a hands on approach to industrial relations in the education world. She cannot rule by circular alone. She must talk with people and win their agreement. The principle of partnership articulated in the White Paper has in reality been ignored by the Minister in her day to day handling of education matters. She will have to change her approach and attitude so as to ensure a more harmonious industrial relations climate in the education world. In the context of the inservice training issue she should immediately convene talks with all the partners and prepare an agreed long term plan to facilitate the efficient organisation of inservice training.

Mr. Deenihan

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the ongoing concerns articulated by the Deputy. The Minister for Education is unable to be present due to a prior engagement. It is fair to say that she has engaged in more consultation than any of her predecessors through the education forum etc. and it is wrong to say otherwise.

Mr. D. Ahern

With all due respect, the Minister should be here and not at a prior engagement.

An Ceann Comhairle

Let us hear the Minister of State without interruption.

Mr. D. Ahern

We should be her primary responsibility.

Mr. Deenihan

Following the progress made in the early retirement negotiations — the Minister has done very well at these but no doubt the Opposition would prefer if she had not——

Mr. Martin

They are not over yet.

Mr. Deenihan

——it was decided to delay the introduction of new courses until the conclusion of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work negotiations or to introduce them in 1995. In going ahead with their introduction the Minister for Education took account of the best interests of students and responded to a widespread public desire for such courses. Consultations were held with management, teachers and parents and there was general support for the introduction of the new courses.

The revised leaving certificate courses or syllabi are in Irish, accounting, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The inservice programme for the teachers concerned has already commenced and will involve approximately 7,000 teachers. These teachers have been divided into three blocks with approximately 2,300 teachers participating in each of three separate sessions. This represents approximately 11 per cent of the total post-primary teaching force at each session.

The inservice courses are organised at local level by education centres so as to minimise disruption and facilitate the wishes of the school authorities as far as possible. While most schools have their inservice courses spread over different sessions, some schools wish — this is their choice — to have all or most of their courses on one occasion. This is a matter for individual school authorities which should be satisfied that they can cater for pupils when making such a choice. It is recognised that there will be difficult circumstances in some cases and substitution will be provided in such cases. To date the Department of Education has received 60 applications from schools and has provided substitution assistance in 45 cases. Comprehensive substitution for the present inservice training would be very costly — at more than £1 million it would cost more than the training itself. Full substitution for inservice courses would also carry major implications for future inservice training programmes and important and necessary programmes would have to be significantly reduced as a result of high expenditure on substitution.

In the case of the present inservice training the Minister believes it is important to stress that on average one in ten teachers will be absent for a two day period in the case of each of the three separate sessions to which I referred. She is satisfied that the ability of schools to stagger attendance by teachers, with the short duration of the courses and the availability of substitution in difficult cases will minimise the need to send pupils home. She also wishes to say that there are wide ranging and ongoing consultations with all the partners in education. In the case of the revised syllabi, the Minister established a special implementation group which included representatives of unions, management, parents and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. This group met on a number of occasions — it met before the commencement of the new school year — to consider the implications of the introduction of the revised syllabi this September. The matter of inservice training for teachers was also considered at some length by this group.

Ongoing consultations take place on a regular basis with the partners in education through a number of other mechanisms and there is ample opportunity for all to convey their point of view and discuss matters of concern. Issues such as inservice training will also feature in the ongoing and complex Programme for Competitiveness and Work negotiations which will take some time to complete. The Minister does not believe that it would have been in the best interests of students to delay change pending the conclusion of these negotiations.

The Minister wishes me to say that the inservice training schedule for the revised leaving certificate courses was put in place following consultation with the various management, union and parental interests. The schedule should not cause undue disruption to schools and, in any event, I have indicated that substitution is available where schools encounter particular difficulties. The consultation with the partners is an ongoing and regular feature of the business of the Department.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Hugh Byrne who was selected by me to raise a matter on the Adjournment is unavoidably absent. He wishes to extend his apologies to the House, Minister and Department concerned. We will proceed to Deputy Ahern's matter.