The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) today demanded that the conditions of service of new teachers must be protected from further attack. The union was speaking on the afternoon of a march of student teachers from all over the country to Leinster House.
Comments from TUI General Secretary John MacGabhann:
“TUI fully understands and sympathises with the concerns of student teachers and we believe that a collapse in pay will in time lead to significant deterioration in the quality of entrants to teaching. If we are serious about using our education system as a vehicle to economic recovery, we cannot allow the profession to be downgraded. A teacher starting in the profession today would be paid 30% less than what they would have earned eighteen months ago. This is unacceptable.
It is in everybody’s interest that the pay of teachers is maintained at a level that ensures that the profession attracts graduates of the highest quality. As recently as last week, an OECD report confirmed that those countries which pay teachers well perform the best in international comparisons.
Incoming teachers have already been targeted in numerous other underhand ways. Around 800 new teaching posts at second level should have opened up from next September as a result of retirements this year but the bulk of these posts will be removed from the system as a result of cuts to teacher allocation introduced in the Budget.”