As hundreds of Teachers’ Union of Ireland representatives meet this week for the union’s annual congress in Killarney, it will come as no great surprise that teacher recruitment and retention crisis remains a grave concern.
In September, we welcomed Minister for Education Norma Foley’s decision to shelve plans for teachers to assess their own students for State certification purposes. We have made it clear at all times and in all forums that in terms of senior cycle redevelopment, external assessment for State certification is key to the integrity of the process and must be retained. This remains our emphatic position.
In terms of opportunities, the potential of AI to reduce the ever-growing administrative burden on educators should be fully explored. In a series of surveys, our members have consistently cited bureaucratic overload as an ever-increasing and demoralising distraction from teaching and learning, one that in many cases is driving teachers and lecturers from the profession.
However, we have made clear that there must be parity of esteem across the technological university sector – we will not accept a situation where individual TUs are free to operate without regard or recourse to national negotiation.