I beg to move the following motion standing in my name:—"That, in view of the grave unrest amongst all sections of Lay Secondary Teachers employed in Irish Intermediate Schools working under the Ministry of Education, on the grounds of inadequate remuneration, absence of pension arrangements, and insecurity of tenure, the Seanad requests the Minister of Education to give the earliest possible attention to the question, with a view to the early extension to this important section of the teaching profession of rates of pay and conditions of employment more commensurate with the services rendered than at present seems to be the case."
This motion should not require any elaborate statement or closely reasoned argument to commend it for adoption. One can only feel ashamed of the responsible authority, and ashamed of the country generally, that there should be a necessity for having to move a motion of this kind at this stage. We have heard and read much about the obvious necessity of raising our educational standards to the highest possible level. Everybody seemed to be agreed as to the necessity for giving greater educational facilities in the primary, secondary and higher stages, and in attracting to the teaching profession men and women of the ability and character calculated to give training to the pupils likely to make them good citizens. No one, with any sense of responsibility, has attempted to minimise the importance of the position which our Intermediate schools occupy in the chain of education. Not only are they the feeders of our Universities, but, in the vast majority of cases, they also of necessity constitute the final stages in the education of the young men and women of the country. They have very good reason to be proud of their work. Year after year they turn out into the world thousands of pupils, male and female, with an intellectual equipment and general training which are a credit alike to the teachers and to the pupils themselves.
It is safe to say that the preponderating majority of the Civil Service, Banking and Commercial appointments in the country are held by people who completed their education in the Intermediate schools. Consequently it is unnecessary to dilate upon the importance of the profession responsible for this vital national work. They require to be people with high educational qualifications. They must have the gift and the technical ability of imparting their knowledge to others, and they must be, or at least they should be, people of a high mental and moral standard, so that they may teach not only by precept but also by example. If we judge by results it is quite evident that the Irish Secondary Teachers enjoy at least a share of these very necessary qualifications. Yet how do we value the services of such people as an important national asset? How do we assist them to devote themselves whole-heartedly to their work and to give their attention of a personal character, to the intricate and delicate task they are entrusted with? A few figures will show, I think, more effectively than anything else the manner in which the services of Secondary Teachers are valued by a people so fond of talking histrionically about the Island of Saints and Scholars. I do not know, personally, whether the Saints ever had any material existence, but if they had they must have all died or emigrated. It is clear, however, that there are yet a few scholars and the wherewithal to make scholars. This is how their services are valued by the Nation. For the year 1921-1922 the average salaries paid to lay Secondary Teachers in Ireland in Intermediate schools was only £175. This is merely an arbitrary figure, too, because there are no fixed scales in operation. There are scores of men with high educational qualifications and with long service to their credit and they are paid only a salary of £160 a year at the present time. Fancy offering a salary of that kind to a man or woman requiring a College training and possessing the abilities necessary for a teacher of Intermediate education!
Although, on the whole, adverse to making comparisons between one set of workers as against another, I think it will help to show the cruel and deplorable manner in which Secondary Teachers have been treated by mentioning a few figures regarding the rates of pay of other grades of workers whose work is not more important from a national point of view than the Secondary Teachers. Male National Teachers employed in the National Schools start at a salary of £170 a year and go up to £370 a year in the eighteenth year of service. This means that a teacher starting in a National School at the age of 22 or 23, gets as high a salary as the Secondary Teacher with 20 or 30 years' service to his credit. Nobody will seriously assert that National teachers are paid too highly, but this being taken for granted what a commentary it is upon the miserable salary paid to a Secondary teacher! Irish bank clerks rise to £450, with a bonus regulated according to the cost of living. Dublin Corporation clerks have a salary and bonus of £455 in their twenty-second year of service, and the Dublin County Council clerks go to about £450, with some bonus attached. The rank and file member of the Civic Guard starts at a salary of £178 a year. The Dublin Corporation street workers have £195 a year. I only quote these figures to show the cruel and inexcusable manner in which Secondary lay teachers in Irish Secondary Schools are treated.
