Benchmarking Report 10/1/08

INTO Press Release: Statement by John Carr, INTO General Secretary, on Benchmarking Report

10th January 2008

Benchmarking – a mixed bag for teachers. Significant gains for primary principals and deputy principals, no increases for teachers.

Primary teachers will be dismayed and angry at reports that the Benchmarking Body is to recommend no increase in salary particularly when this is contrasted with generous pay awards to those already earning high salaries in the public and semi-state sector. The INTO is very dissatisfied at the failure of the Benchmarking Report to recommend increases for primary teachers in general or to shorten the exceptionally long teachers’ pay scale.

The INTO has however, acknowledged significant progress on its claim for principal and deputy principal teachers. “Increases in principals’ allowances, weighted towards smaller schools, bring the pay of most primary principals into line with their second-level counterparts,” said John Carr, general secretary of the primary teachers’ union. “The increased allowances for all primary school principals and deputy principals are welcome, especially in light of the overall trend of benchmarking recommendations. More needs to be done but this is a welcome start”.

As part of the Benchmarking process, a general claim was made along with the other teacher unions. The INTO also lodged a separate claim for its members who are principals in primary schools. This was one of three claims in the education sector on which progress was made.

John Carr went on to severely criticise recent public pay policy decisions. “Large pay increases to the few at the top coupled with wage restraint for those on modest salaries will inevitably fuel a loss of confidence in public pay determination processes. It is clear that much of the avarice and unfairness of the private sector is to be imported into the public sector through Benchmarking. Top earners are racing ahead while lower and middle income earners are left behind.”

“The failure to recommend increases gives rise to serious concerns. The trend of the Report makes the negotiation of the next public service pay round more problematic. We are also concerned at the “pensions discount” which means that poorer pensions in the private sector are being translated into poorer pay for public servants. This is a race to the bottom.”

“There will be huge pressure on the next national agreement. Teachers like other workers are seeing living standards eroded. National agreements over the past twenty years have produced a degree of fairness and a sharing of prosperity. Now it appears that those on modest salaries are to pay the price for the economic slowdown while those on already large salaries continue to take large increases.”  

He said claims that modernisation has not been achieved through the Benchmarking process are false and unwarranted. “Primary teachers now teach thousands of children with special needs in their classrooms and have integrated the large community of newcomer children into their schools,” he said. “A completely new curriculum has been introduced with new subjects and new ways of teaching. ICT is in use in schools despite no government funding for five years. Not only have teachers introduced computers they have sourced the funding themselves.”

PRINCIPALS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS