In intend giving five minutes to Senator Costello. In asking Seanad Éireann to call on the Minister for Education to extend the option of early retirement to post-primary teachers in line with their first level colleagues I do so at a very critical time as one cannot have an anomaly when the three teacher unions, the ASTI, the INTO and the TUI are forming a council of teacher unions. I will outline my reasons for extending the option of early retirement to post-primary teachers.
First, existing research shows that stress is a major occupational problem among teachers and there is growing evidence internationally that stress among teachers is increasing. I can give a quick run through the various countries where research has shown this. In research carried out in Sweden 25 per cent of a sample of 4,000 teachers found teaching a psychological strain and the International Labour Organisation state that teachers face stress in their working environment. A poll in 1982 in the United States found that 35 per cent of public school teachers were dissatisfied with their current jobs and 40 per cent said that with hindsight, they would not have become teachers. In Britain the source of stress is institutional in nature. There is a need for change, not only by the individual, but in the structures of the education system, particularly those which govern the conditions of service of teachers. There is current research in Northern Ireland; levels of stress increase not only through the school year but also throughout the lifetime of the teacher.
It is clear from all this that teaching nowadays is a profession under severe pressure. One quotation illustrates this, where rapid advances in technology and the increasing complexity of working life are creating new and heavy responsibilities for educational systems and for the millions of teachers who work in them.
The sources of stress are work-related and are covered by five different points: (1) conditions of service; (2) day-to-day problems in teaching; (3) student behaviour and discipline; (4) lack of influence on decisions which affect them and (5) the status of the teaching profession generally. My arguments for introducing amendments to the pension schemes to provide early retirement options for teachers were reinforced by the recent experience where large numbers of teachers applied for the voluntary redundancy scheme introduced by the Government to reduce numbers employed in the public service.
The figures are quite frightening; 2,300 INTO members, 939 ASTI members and 950 TUI members applied to leave the teaching profession under the terms of the scheme. Out of those staggering statistics, of the 2,300 INTO members only 374 members got voluntary redundancy; 138 ASTI members and 58 TUI members left teaching under the provisions of the scheme. This exacerbated the frustration of many of those teachers because they had applied to leave teaching under the scheme and were then forced to continue working in an occupation in which they found it increasingly difficult to cope.
Under health insurance schemes, the teacher unions provide optional schemes for permanent health insurance for their members which gives them additional cover should they be forced to retire through ill-health. The number of claims under those schemes has increased dramatically in recent years and the basis for many of the claims is stress-related.
Taking claims under the ASTI scheme, 47.9 per cent were suffering from depression or anxiety, 4.2 per cent from mental illness, other psychological diseases and problems related to 15.6 per cent of cases and cardiovascular diseases and associated problems affected 32.3 per cent. To go quickly through the claims under the INTO scheme, 56.3 per cent were suffering from depression and anxiety, mental illness, 4.7 per cent, other psychological diseases and problems, 17.1 per cent and cardiovascular problems, 21.3 per cent. Under the TUI scheme, 27.4 per cent suffered anxiety, 6.8 per cent from mental illness, 42.5 per cent from psychological diseases and 23.3 per cent from cardiovascular diseases and related problems. What I have outlined is not a fantasy; they are real problems which the statistics prove.
Another point that must be made is that demographic changes in the pupil population for the employment of teachers in the coming years will be a critical issue. The projected reduction in figures is 884,400 in 1990 dropping to 829,200 in 1995 and to 746,900 in the year 2000. Recruitment to the profession will be returned to a trickle which obviously involves other considerations. Teaching has an ageing profile. In the profession we need the stimulus of the challenge which young teachers will bring with the language proficiency and technological professional qualifications; these are qualities much needed in the Ireland of the 1990s and indeed in the next century.
This is not a new issue, it has been going on for the past ten years. The teacher unions representatives have endeavoured to improve the terms of the pensions schemes through the processing of claims in the teachers conciliation council but this, unfortunately, has been rejected. There is no provision for independent arbitration and, as I said already, you cannot have the anomaly that members of one teacher union have the option of retiring at 55 while the members of the other two teacher unions do not have that option.
There is no point in arguing that we are looking for special treatment. We are not because there are already special provisions for early retirement for the Garda Síochána, for prison officers and for those in the Army. The offer made in the past few days to teachers is to let them retire between 50 and 60 on a reduced pension, a reduced actuarial valuation, so that at the age of 50 their pension would be reduced by half and would be on a sliding scale between 50 and 60 years. That obviously could not be accepted. I am asking that the Minister for Education extend the option for early retirement to post-primary teachers which is in line with their colleagues at first level. At present the three teachers' unions are seeking an inquiry into their schemes which should be amended to take account of the present and future employment conditions in the teaching service.
The condition of stress within the British system of education was highlighted today in The Guardian and this has been highlighted for the past number of years. There is the stress of high pupil-teacher ratio, which is much higher than in other European countries. The level of stress is so evident in teaching that many teachers want to leave the profession. I am a teacher and I work two days a week at present, but I can say quite honestly that the stress in teaching is far greater than the stress in politics, which is supposed to be tough and harsh. All politicians who have taught will agree with me. I implore the Minister to look ahead, not to trail behind on an issue that will continue to be highlighted by the three teachers' unions. She should show leadership, she should show that she is concerned about the mounting stress levels in the teaching profession. Teachers should be allowed to retire at 55 years of age. She would not be doing anything extraordinary if she gave second level teachers what their colleagues at first level have.
