site search by freefind

GS Conference Speech 2010
General Secretary Avril Hall-Callaghan

President, guests, colleagues, what a year it has been for education!

Never in all the years that I have been working for the Ulster Teachers’ Union has there been such turmoil and uncertainty in the education service. Teachers are continuing to battle through the stormy waters of that uncertainty with little prospect of the storm abating in the near future and with not a lifeboat in sight.

We knew that change was inevitable but I don’t think any of us could have predicted the course that the education service has taken in the past year – it was not on any of the maps that had been drawn up for us by the Department of Education.

Firstly, the Department had intended that the Education and Skills Authority would be a legal entity, taking over the functions of all the employing authorities, by 1st January 2010. ESA was something that all the teacher unions had bought into several years ago when the idea of a single authority was first mooted. We saw it as a way of streamlining the duplication that was so evident throughout the service. We also saw it as a way of ensuring equality of treatment for teachers, no matter where they taught. Of course, there was also the important matter of the savings that could be made and which we were assured would be put into “front line services”.

It seemed like a wonderful idea. The map was drawn up for the implementation of ESA – albeit a map that was in black and white, with very little detail given. We thought that through negotiation the map would soon be coloured in and that once the Directors were appointed they would sit down with the teacher unions to discuss the detail. How wrong we were!

For a start the “Folks on the Hill” took an interest and some of them very soon made it clear that they wanted to take their erasers and rub the map out. The Education Bill which would have given life to the new single authority has yet to see its way through the Assembly and does not look likely that it will do so in the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile we have a Chief Executive Designate and six Directors, not to mention a whole host of others in the ESA Implementation Team, working towards – what? They do not involve us in their deliberations. We have transitional Boards to be followed by Interim Boards. We have Chief Executives who are in limbo. (We even have one who has already had his retirement “do”!). We have a mess, ladies and gentlemen, and a mess that no one seems capable of fixing at this moment in time.

Vast sums of money have been expended in setting in place the structures of ESA to date. Is all that to be wasted? The Minister has clearly stated that she is moving ahead with ESA but there are senior figures within the education service who are predicting that it will never happen. What are teachers to believe? Or do they really care, providing they are allowed to get on with educating children and young people and providing they are given the support and the resources that they need to do so!

That, unfortunately, is where we have the problem. While those in administration have naturally been focussed on the changes they thought were about to happen and worrying about where – if anywhere- they fitted in to the new order of things, teachers, particularly principals, have often been left feeling unsupported. Worse than, they have been left with no clear sense of where education is headed to. Every ship needs a captain to affirm the direction of travel and plot out the course – and I feel we are getting close to the point where there will be mutiny unless someone gets a hand on the tiller very soon.

There are those who believe that ESA is not the answer to all our needs. It is certainly not going to be the body that some believed it might be. The recent plans for Convergence – or ESA by the back door, as it has been called – throw up some very worrying issues.

Why, for instance, does the first phase only involve harmonising the five Education and Library Boards? Those who feared that only the controlled sector would suffer rationalisation are concerned that their worst fears are being realised. Will the other employing bodies – Integrated, Irish Medium, CCMS and the voluntary grammar sector – ever be brought under central control? The voluntary sector has to date steadfastly resisted any attempts to be part of the new body.

I would like to call on our politicians to end the uncertainty now. Either give ESA the full go ahead, or else come up with a way to salvage what is possible to salvage out of the current mess. The uncertainty is already impacting on schools and we cannot allow that situation to continue, particularly at a time when cuts to the Education Budget are imminent. As a country whose wealth is most certainly going to be realised through its young people we cannot afford to procrastinate – we need agreement on this fundamental issue now!

Funding of the education service has always been a contentious area for the teacher unions. For many years we have highlighted the shortcomings of the budget here compared to England and Wales . We have noted the higher salaries of our colleagues in Scotland with envy. We have sought to put in place the 10% Planning, Preparation and Assessment time that our colleagues in England and Wales have as a statutory right.

We have been told that there will be a Workforce Review, the Terms of Reference for which we wait with bated breath. We have been told there will be a Fundamental Review of Funding – again we wait with anticipation for the Terms of Reference for that. We continually call on the Department of Education to make the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council part of these groups from the start so that we can all contribute to resolving the issues that need to be resolved. I call on the Department once again this evening – let us come inside the tent so that we can work constructively together in the best interests of schools.

The theme of this Conference is “Education – a Sound Investment”. It has never been more important that all of us in the Education sector work together since it looks likely that we are heading for stringent cuts, inevitably cuts that will affect front line services. We have been told £73 million needs to go this year. We want teachers, who will ultimately suffer from any diminution of resources, to be assured that their needs are being taken into account in any cost-cutting exercise. We, as the representatives of teachers, need to be fully involved in consultation on this.

We also want to make sure that every possible argument is presented to ensure that funding to the Education sector is not removed – indeed we would be advocating to our political decision-makers that they think again and add to, not reduce, the Education budget. Education is our country’s future and it is a very sound investment indeed.

Last May a group representing the teacher unions accompanied senior officials from the Department of Education and ESA to Montgomery County in Washington to observe the system in place there. In Montgomery County decisions about budgets are made jointly by the administrators and the education unions. There are certainly aspects of the work going on there that could be used as models here, particularly in terms of prioritising objectives. In light of the serious economic decisions that lie ahead I believe that it is imperative that we examine this model of working together and I look forward to the Workshop arranged by the Department of Education for next week as a belated first step in this direction.

I would pay tribute to those who have already started to involve the unions, both teaching and non-teaching in the consultative process. An excellent example of this was the collaboration that took place regarding recording and assessment. I know the Minister has confirmed that she is committed to working in close partnership with the unions and I certainly hope that over time union involvement at a strategy level will produce benefits for all.

The third major issue for schools at present is the resolution of the Transfer situation. We in the teacher unions had hoped that with the Department of Education’s “Transfer 2010” policy we could move into a new era of equality of opportunity for all. Unfortunately due to the introduction of unnecessary entrance tests by some schools teachers have been left to navigate their way through a potential minefield.

Some primary schools found themselves trying to juggle the legal requirements of the Revised Curriculum with the demands being made on them to deliver coaching for tests that were privatised and not sanctioned by their paymasters. Now that the results of those tests have been published teachers are once again trying to pick up the pieces, with some pupils achieving vastly differing scores in the two test systems they undertook.

Primary school principals, as always, have tried to do their best for their pupils but many felt resentful that they had been dragged into the aftermath of private testing. They also felt concerned about supplying data on pupils and were relieved when they eventually received clear advice from the Department of Education as to what their statutory remit was.

This union has always strongly advocated an end to the iniquitous system of academic selection at 11. This Union continues to call upon our politicians to reach agreement on a way ahead. Grammar schools have already proved that they can cope with teaching a very wide range of ability, as our secondary schools have been doing for years. Teachers are teachers, and will do their very best for their pupils, no matter what the name above the door of the establishment they are teaching in. No pupil should feel that they must go to a particular type of school to get a good education.

Let us put an end to testing once and for all and let teachers in all schools get on with the job of preparing our young people for a 21st century that is vastly different to the time when the selective system was created. We need to embrace change and acknowledge that sometimes there are better ways to do things.

Apart from anything else, the tests on which a selective system is based are never perfect. They do not always give us a true picture of what a child is capable of, simply a snapshot of how well the child does on the day, on whatever elements we are measuring. *****By contrast, the curriculum of the 21st Century acknowledges the range of different intelligences and skills young people have, many of which are not easily measurable.

The possible shortcomings of testing were graphically illustrated by the errors that occurred during the INCAs testing in the autumn term last year. The Minister for Education has asked Professor John Gardner from QUB to examine the errors and give advice on future testing. His report will be of interest to all teachers, but particularly to those who find themselves having to report to parents on the outcomes of these Computer Adaptive Tests. The teacher unions were invited to sit on this Working Group and I thank the Department of Education for the opportunity for teachers to have their voices heard in this and other important developmental work.

Teachers’ voices need to be heard. As teachers we try to ensure that each and every child is valued and that their views are respected. Unfortunately in relation to our own needs the same standards are not always applied. Teachers often feel undervalued, stressed and de-motivated. Teachers are very often so over-burdened with workload that their health suffers. Their work/life balance is often very poor.

The education system provides for a structured pathway for each learner with teachers guiding the young people along to achieve their maximum potential. Where is that structure for teachers? The General Teaching Council was created as the professional body for teachers and has done some excellent work in mapping teacher competencies. But where are the opportunities for Continuing Professional Development for teachers based on those competencies? Where is the time to avail of training, if any existed?

The Department of Education needs to earmark funding and provide the climate within which teachers can begin to redress the work/life balance, to become life-long learners and to win back their professionalism. They need to have time built in to their working day to both reflect and to prepare properly for their classes. They need affirmation that they are doing a good job. When things do not go well, they need to be supported by the system.

The new “Every School a Good School” policy produced by the Department of Education does little to give comfort to struggling teachers. The recent very public humiliation of a principal teacher as the result of a school inspection is surely not the way we want to treat teachers? If a child is not performing to its best, teachers provide support and assistance. The child is not suspended nor publicly condemned. Teachers deserve the same encouragement and support.

When “Every School a Good School ” talked about the “challenge” function we knew that this type of terminology could mean only one thing – a more aggressive attitude was going to emerge towards teachers. It seems to go hand in hand with an increased dependence on statistics to pinpoint schools that are not "performing". While all of us would agree that each and every pupil is entitled to the very best education possible, this can only be achieved if teachers are confident and supported, not fearful of “Big Brother” in the shape of C2K.

One of the most encouraging developments in the past year has been the increased co-operation between all five recognised teacher unions. Following the re-constitution of the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council last May I am pleased to say that we have worked closely together and issued a number of joint statements, particularly in relation to Transfer. I would like to thank my colleagues from the other teacher unions for their support for me as Chair of our Council and for their commitment to reaching agreed positions through discussion and consensus. Our colleagues from NITC are very welcome at our Conference, as are our colleagues from throughout the British and Irish Group of Teacher Unions – I hope you enjoy your stay with us here in Newcastle .

I would also like to offer a very warm welcome to our other guests who are with us this evening. We in UTU value our links with our colleagues throughout the education service and the trade union movement globally. I hope you will remain with us for the public session where the first of our resolutions will be debated.

I am absolutely delighted that we have so many young teachers, including those who are still in training, with us at this Conference. The UTU FIT Group continues to flourish under the Chairmanship of Stephen Savage. I am very pleased to say that we have filled approximately one quarter of our incoming Central Executive Committee from the ranks of the FIT Group. This augers very well for the future of the UTU as these young teachers bring enthusiasm and a new perspective into our deliberations at policy level.

I am also pleased to say that the Northern Ireland Teachers Council has placed as one of its absolute priorities the pursuance of a scheme for the guaranteed employment of Newly Qualified Teachers, similar to the scheme currently operating in Scotland . We believe that such a scheme could complement other possible innovations, such as a Winding Down Scheme. By ensuring that teachers near the end of their career have the option to reduce their working time without detriment to their pension, we could open up opportunities for young teachers to get a foot on the employment ladder. This might also provide a vehicle for the introduction of the very much-needed 10% Planning, Preparation and Assessment time.

Finally, I would like to publicly thank our President, Lexie Scott, for his contribution during the past year. Lexie is, as many of you know, very politically aware and that has been of huge benefit to the UTU in a year when political wheeling and dealing was the order of the day. Lexie has worked very closely with Kevin Smyth from INTO on issues of mutual interest and has taken forward the work of the Joint Board in an exemplary manner. I would personally like to thank both of you for the sterling work you undertook in putting together the Class Size campaign.

Lexie, may I wish you well for Conference. I look forward to hearing your speech tomorrow and I will miss your wise counsel in UTU Headquarters.

This Union is built on a very strong tradition of upholding the very highest standards for Education. It is something that we will continue to uphold as we move forward into whatever new regime awaits us, as dictated by the Assembly but ultimately defined by the will of the voters, both nationally and locally. Whatever lies ahead this Union – the Ulster Teachers’ Union – will continue to defend the rights of teachers to have sufficient resources to carry out a professional job.

We will continue to highlight the areas that need to be improved and the issues that need to be tackled to make schools better places for both staff and pupils. We will work with government, but we will also challenge government when we believe that it is not providing what is needed.

In this, the tenth year since the Millenium, at a time when the global economy is at rock bottom, we believe that investment in Education is the key to a future healthy economy.