2010 Conference - Presidential Speech

Chair, Minister, Distinguished Guests, Fellow Delegates I have a tremendous sense of privilege and honour standing before you today addressing this, the 91st Conference of the Ulster Teachers’ Union . To have had the almost unique opportunity to be President - and here I hope our fraternal delegates will give me some leeway – President of Northern Ireland’s finest Teachers’ Union for the second time is certainly both a privilege and an honour. It is 16 years since I last stood before here and of course many changes have been implemented during those intervening years and I will return to some of those in due course. One thing has remained constant and that is the desire of the officials and the officers of this union to continue to represent the best interests of teachers and the pupils of this Province.

I hope that you will indulge me at the start of my speech. Looking back to what I had said sixteen years ago was a sharp lesson on how things in education tend to keep coming around. Let me look back, but certainly not with any great nostalgia, to 1994 a major issue was the introduction of the then new pay regulations which proposed a degree of flexibility which this Union had grave reservations about. A key element of the regulations was the proposal for the introduction of merit pay – an element which I am delighted to note this Union strongly opposed and which in the end withered but hasn’t entirely gone away. It is interesting that this remains part of the mantra of many in Governments across the world and yet there remains little or no evidence that merit pay works.

Another important issue in 1994 was the Funding Disparity between Primary and Post-Primary Schools . That issue is certainly at the core of much of our thinking today. In 1994 the average difference between a primary pupil and a post-primary pupil was £590 today it is £1270. Even with the proposed changes to the Common Funding Formula this will change by £20 in the year to come.

I also highlighted the lack of local political involvement in the introduction of the Education Reform Order and I have to say that I am delighted that attending our Conference today we have our locally elected Education Minister and a number of her fellow members of the Assembly.

However I have got to say that the working of that Assembly in general and in respect of Education in particular give us grave concern. I will return to that issue later.

Two other issues which I raised 16 years ago were Assessment and spurious allegations against teachers. At that time the UTU had bravely decided to be involved with the Common Assessment Instruments. 16 years later and we have moved to INCAs but I have got say that the outworking of these have given us very significant worries in the past year.

Finally on our road trip to 1994 we have the issue of spurious allegations against teachers. Let me be absolutely clear we will not condone inappropriate actions by teachers but there continues to be a real problem with Precautionary Suspensions. We need to find a way which gives protection to the pupils in our care but which also finds a means of safe guarding the reputation of an accused teacher while the matter is being investigated.

However enough of the problems of the past me look to the present and maybe even glance towards the future.

The theme of this conference is Education A Sound Investment and I believe that while this theme is important at all times I am convinced that it is particularly important at these times of financial uncertainty. I have just returned from a conference attended by teacher union representatives from all over the world. The theme of that conference was the teacher union response to the Global Financial Crisis. Education International, the world body representing teachers has commissioned two pieces of research and it is clear that right across the world education systems are experiencing the effects of the financial crisis. Reports from across the world indicate that governments are cutting education budgets – some in relatively small ways and some savagely with figures of around 50% being reported.

I believe that we are beginning to see these effects within our own system – I believe that we have been sheltered to some extent – one might cynically conclude that the forth coming election has steadied the axe. Our colleagues in the Republic of Ireland have not been so fortunate and we congratulate our sister unions for their efforts to stem the tide of cuts. Our colleagues in the EIS have recently launched a significant campaign in Scotland and I believe that we in Northern Ireland must put ourselves onto a war footing to ensure that the children we teach and the members we serve are not robbed to pay for the greed and mismanagement of the financial sector.

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.
-- Abraham Lincoln

This has been a busy year in education and in turning my attention to those issues which I believe need our focus let me look at two broad areas; Children and Teachers.

I make no apology for putting children first. Children must be at the centre of all that we do. Let me reflect on some of those issues which have affected our children this year. As a primary teacher you will forgive me I focus firstly on the issue of Transfer. Minister you will I hope recognize the teacher voice in my next few sentences. Like all good teachers on reviewing your progress to date I will try to find the positives first.

You have implemented a key strategic aim of this Union – that is the removal of academic selection at 11. We applaud you for this. It is of particular note that you have stayed the course in the face of some very significant opposition, some of which has been very personal. Good work so far. Now let us look at the areas for development.

In inheriting the political fudge on this matter you have been party to a situation where some schools have been able to instigate their own selective tests and where a very significant majority of our P7 pupils have been confronted with sitting at least one set of entrance tests and indeed in many instances two different sets of tests. I accept that while much hype has been given in some sections of the media to the attempts by others to find a way forward that your attempted compromise many months ago now was rejected by your partners on the executive. But Minister and indeed to the other Assembly Members who are here today I have got to say what effect has this deregulated system had on our children? What effect has had on our teachers?

During this Conference the UTU will, I have no doubt, reaffirm its view that academic selection can play no part in creating a better education system for all our children. Throughout the autumn term and with increased intensity following the issue of the results of these unregulated tests children, their parents and their teachers have been subjected to very significant pressures. The unregulated tests and the attendant problems which they have visited on children and teachers are a product of the selfish and high handed course which our grammar schools have chosen to follow. As I have already said Minister we in the UTU share exactly the same goal as you but the road to getting there is exacting a very significant price from our children and their teachers.

In the opening weeks of this year you Minister and many of our other politicians from all parties invested significant time and effort in trying to find a way forward in relation to progressing devolution. I believe the challenges there were huge. But minister to you and to all our local politicians I have got to make a very strong demand that you invest more time and energy in finding a way forward for transfer. Standing on your principles is laudible but Minister I have got to say that the cost which is being exacted on our children and upon our primary teachers is unacceptable.

Another very significant issue this year has been the consultation on Special Needs. Our Union has responded as have all the others and indeed the NITC has recently produced a combined response. We would ask Minister that your Department take a serious look at the issues which we have drawn to your attention. I regret to say that there remains a healthy cynicism about many of the consultations which have taken place in the past. Those children within our system who are in need of additional provision are amongst the most vulnerable in our society. As a Union we are very much in favour of making sure that these children can be assessed promptly and receive the necessary interventions as soon as possible. In this the proposals contained within the Special Needs proposals are to be welcomed. We do however have very significant reservations about the additional responsibilities that are proposed for schools and teachers. Added to this are our very real concerns about an absence of information about the provision of the required additional resources. policies and regulations are all well and good BUT it is the means to deliver which will actually make the difference in our schools.

We in association with the INTO have recently launched a class size campaign. I do not propose to rehearse all the information which we have already provided on this matter but I feel it is worthwhile returning to this topic as we consider investing in education. The United Kingdom has some of the largest PTRs in the developed world. Northern Ireland has some of the largest within the UK . Minister you and your colleagues within the other devolved institutions and in England and Wales are constantly telling us about the need to drive up standards. While smaller classes are not the only factor in improving our educational standards they are very important contributors.

Through my school’s involvement with a number of Comenius projects – these are projects funded through the EU which help schools across Europe develop projects together – I have become increasingly aware of the huge disparity there is between my school and many of our European partners. Let me quote some figures and I would stress that these are real figures for real schools not statistical averages. Let me begin with the figures for my own school and I have got to say that these are not significantly different from those found throughout the primary sector in Northern Ireland . I have 406 pupils in the primary section of school – these children are divided into 14 classes with 28 pupils in the smallest class and 31 in the largest class. In addition to the 14 class teachers I have 1 additional teacher for Special Needs and myself and with careful budgeting in the past year I have been able to employ an extra teacher to support curriculum development. My school’s PTR is calculated as 24:1. But as I have already indicated this bears little real meaning to the size of the classes. In our partner schools the PTR figures are as follows:

Norway : 378 pupils and 36 teachers

Finland : 382 and 24

Denmark : 100 and 10

Holland : 600 and 34

Austria : 240 and 24

Spain : 131 and 26

I will discount Austria and Spain as the schools we are partnered with there are significantly different in structure.

Why am I laboring this point of comparison. I have had the privilege of visiting some of these schools and while there are things which I believe we do better – we are way ahead when it comes to IT provision for example – I am always amazed at the strong personal relationships which our European colleagues have with individual children. Given that most of them are working with significantly smaller classes I would contend that this is very important.

Colleagues much is said about creating a world class educational system. I would suggest that we might start that process by looking at how we can meaningfully reduce the size of our largest classes. As an added benefit we might be able to create employment for that huge number of teachers who currently languish on the unemployed teachers’ register. One positive step which this Conference will reaffirm is the commitment to guaranteeing our newly qualified teachers a fixed period of employment when they qualify. Minister I would suggest that this is a win win situation for everyone – class size can be brought to levels which will allow us to ensure that the Revised Curriculum has the desired impact of driving up standards; our overburdened teachers are allowed additional time for planning and preparation, schools find themselves with additional resource to allow for the ongoing development of curricular initiatives, we make productive use of that huge investment in training teachers and we make a real effort in tackling the social and educational disadvantage which I know Minister is a very key component of what drives you.

If Education is a sound investment then it must be an investment in the lives and the educational experiences of all children.

Let me now turn to teachers.

Two names long associated with educational thought are Fullan and Hargreaves and I will quote them now:

'It is what teachers think, what teachers do, and what teachers are at the level of the classroom that ultimately shapes the kind of learning that young people get.’

Minister and colleagues it is abundantly clear that the most significant factor in the education of our children are the teachers they will encounter on their educational journey. We would applaud your effort Minister to engage with the teacher unions in a real and meaningful way. I hope in turn that you will recognise that we have made considerable efforts to support you. That said Minister I am seriously alarmed that at times so little progress is made.

Throughout the past year I have shared the growing frustration of the teachers’ side within the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee as many issues keep being pushed forward rather dealt with. Two of the most significant being the Teacher Health and WellBeing Procedure and the Unsatisfactory Teacher procedure. In the case of the latter this has been drifting around for nearly 20 years.

One of the particular high points of my year in office has been the strengthening of our working relationship with the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation. UTU and INTO have worked together closely for many years and during my previous term of office I paid tribute to the close workings of Al Mackle and David Allen but with the formation of the Joint Board I believe that we have taken this relationship to a new level. I would like to pay a special word of thanks to John Carr who as General Secretary of INTO has worked tirelessly to ensure that our two organisations can make progress together. John thank you and please take from us our very best wishes for your retirement. It has been a particular pleasure to begin working with Sheila Nunan who has taken over as General Secretary and I am sure that Sheila’s enthusiasm will continue to inspire us. Of course without the active involvement of our colleagues on Northern Committee we would not have been able to progress. Finally I have been delighted to get to know Kevin Smyth and to work so closely with him and his colleagues on the Northern Committee in recent months.

Throughout the four decades of social upheaval which we commonly refer to as the Troubles this Union cleared a very careful course avoiding the pitfalls of being associated with the politics of the day. Having moved into a decade of peace and the re-establishment of local government we have had to learn new skills in order to deal with the evolving situation. This Union believes that local Government is in the best interests of the children we teach and the members we serve. I have to say that the current arrangements are much more satisfactory than the situation which pertained in 1994. However there is considerable room for improvement. Early in my Presidential year I was interested to hear about a school system which our General Secretary and others had been shown from Montgomery County in the USA . Like most other systems there were things which would prove attractive to us and some things which were not so good. At the conference I referred to earlier much was being made of a decision in New York to sack the principal and teachers of an unsuccessful school. Other school Boards were drastically slashing the number of schools and teachers – in one county half their schools were threatened with closure to try and save some of the county’s budget deficit. Minister there are some ideas which are best left to our American cousins.

When we had the opportunity to meet the Director of Education for Montgomery County when he visited Belfast in the late summer I found him both interesting and provocative. One of the most interesting pieces of information was the very small figures involved in administering education – less than 10% yet here in Northern Ireland we expend almost 40% of the overall education budget on administration. We have been promised that this over burdened administration system would be tackled through the implementation of the Review of Public Administration and specifically the introduction of the Education and Skills Authority. Yet deadline after deadline has been missed and it would now seem that the momentum has been lost and that what we are likely to get for the foreseeable future in some form of convergence which will operate primarily within the Education and Library Boards.

I have got to say that the amount of money that has been wasted in this drip feed process could have been better spent at the chalkface. I am not the only one to find it strange that when it comes to things which schools need to do these are implemented with alarming speed, everything here seems to be done quickly eg revised curriculum but when it is about changing the administration there appears to be little if any rush. There will be some in the audience who will find striking similarities with at least one of the scripts for the old sitcom Yes Minister.

I have got to say to you Minister and to those in your Department this Union finds it extremely difficult to understand why one section of schools or more accurately the bodies which are supposed to represent them -the Education and Library Boards are being singled out for convergence whilst the other educational partners are being left to maintain their empires. Let me be quite clear we in the UTU believe that there is a very significant need to reduce the bureaucracy which has grown up to run our educational system. Indeed we have argued that part of the problem with RPA as it applied to education was that it appeared to leave the Department or should I say Departments out of the equation. It now appears that the only group which will be affected will be the Boards. Minister we believe that the time has come to decide whether the Education and Skills Authority can work – and we recognise the very significant investment there has been already in this area – or whether there needs to be a complete rethink. The current halfway house proposals are unacceptable. At a time when there is every indication that the budget for education will be severely constrained then the maintenance of this huge bureaucracy for education is surely both. ethically and morally wrong.

In conclusion let me return to the theme of our Conference – Education A Sound Investment. I began with a quotation from one American President let me finish with another.

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Minister there will be continuing pressure on your department’s budget. In the coming weeks a new government will be returned to Westminster and irrespective of the party which forms that Government I believe that there will be further decrease in the amount of money made available to the departments in Northern Ireland . Minister the pressures on your department will be significant BUT Minister you have frequently trumpeted your desire to act in the best interests of all our children. Cutting the budgets available to our schools will directly affect these same children. However I must repeat that it must be your goal and ours to ensure that our maximum efforts are geared towards ensuring that we continue to prioritize children and the schools in which they are educated.