Opinion Piece on Teacher Unions Uniting 26/02/08

Statement by John Carr, INTO General Secretary, on a United Teaching Force

26 February, 2008

The idea of a united teaching force in Ireland is one that more than a few teachers at every level of the education service have shared at one time or another. On more than one occasion there has been general talk of unity, sometimes moving towards formal discussion of some type of greater co-operation. But sadly, on very few occasions has there been any real movement.

The last time there was any progress towards teacher unity was during the pay campaign of the 1980s. That campaign against the government’s failure to honour an arbitrator’s pay award was run under the banner of Teachers United. From that came moves towards a more formal structure in the shape of  a Council of Teacher Unions.
However, it is more than a decade and a half since that attempt failed.

In the intervening time there has been a level of co-operation at the leadership levels of the teacher unions. We co-operate on industrial relations issues. We work together on advisory groups and statutory bodies. But by and large, each teacher union follows separate agendas. At both primary and post primary level there have been trends that should be heeded. Teachers in their respective unions and in common with colleagues in other countries have become more fragmented. Groups of teachers have become concerned with sectional interests, both professional and trade union. Principal teachers in all unions are dissatisfied with increased work load and responsibility.

Tensions are emerging in some sectors between classroom teachers and support teachers. Increasingly, teachers are involved in the area of special or support education and have particular interests which must be accommodated. All teachers, whether primary or second level, can identify with increasing parental demand and ever increasing responsibility and workload. In many cases the concerns of learning support teachers are no different at second level that they are at primary. Teachers in areas of urban disadvantage often have more in common with colleagues in similar schools, be they at first or second level than they do with teachers in non-disadvantaged schools, even in their own sector. Principal teachers whether in a large second level school or a small primary school can identify common themes of increasing bureaucracy, paperwork and administrative responsibilities.

While all of this is going on government is quite content to sustain the status quo. Real engagement can be avoided by politicians who know that teachers don’t really speak with a united voice. Change can be imposed through issuing directives, dressed up as guidelines to one group of teachers with consequences for all teachers down the line for all.

At present all teacher unions are attempting to look after every group within its membership. I believe it is time to have a radical rethink about how we do our business before government and others who have no interest in seeing a strong and united teaching profession drive a coach and four between teachers and cause permanent and irreconcilable differences.

The proposal for a teachers’ and lecturers’ union representing teachers from primary to fourth level is a potentially very postive development. This is a crucial time for all teachers and how we do our business over the coming time will have far reaching consequences. I suggest that far from letting others use a policy of “divide and rule” teachers would be well advised to put in place the building blocks of teacher unity. I am also convinced that teacher unions, by pooling resources, will be able to achieve improvements not only in our conditions of service but in the service that we can offer to our members.

With a union body representative of all teachers, considerable power and influence could be concentrated on matters of interest to teachers. Educational research could be enhanced leading to even greater influence on issues like curriculum and assessment. There is a degree of fertile ground for closer ties between existing unions. Union membership is high, participation is relatively healthy and there is a common identity among teachers whether working in a two teacher school on the western seaboard or in an inner city disadvantaged school. There is none of the fragmentation of teachers’ voices like we hear from Britain today. Indeed one of the strengths of Irish teacher trade unions is that the interests of all teachers, principals, classroom teachers, support teachers and others are fully represented.

Preoccupation with sectoral differences destroys opportunities to make real progress. Through unity comes strength. The old trade union cry of united we stand, divided we fall could well become the rallying cry of the modern age.

*John Carr is General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation
 
ENDS