Bruton steps into conference cauldron as teachers let off steam over pay and workloads

TEACHERS are not the only group of workers affected by two-tier pay rates, although with the publicity they garner, it may sometimes seem that way.

However, more teachers are on the lower salary scales for new entrants to the public service – which were introduced after 2010 – than any other group.

That is because while there was a clampdown on public service recruitment during the financial crisis, classroom teachers still had to be appointed to cope with rising school enrolments.

Teachers now account for 27pc, or 16,054, of the 60,500 public servants on post-2010 scales, according to the report on pay equalisation, published recently by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

At 16,504, there is a critical mass of at least 25pc of teachers on lesser scales.

As school enrolments remain on an upward curve, which they will at second level up to about 2025, that figure can only swell.

There are more new teacher positions being created than at any time in the history of State – and that is on top of the normal replacement of retirees.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged last week that those on lower scales, whether teachers or other public servants, are the very group in society that is also struggling with high rents, trying to save to buy homes and with childcare costs.

Over a career, those teachers on lower rates face an earnings gap amounting to between €50,000 and €100,000, compared with a colleague who was appointed before 2011 and is doing the same job.

Such teachers are well able to articulate the injustice that they feel. Every new teacher has a beef with the Government over pay, so the noise will only get louder.

Teachers are also organised – the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation is 150 this year – and have the platform of their annual union conferences to let off steam, plenty of which will rise this week from venues in Killarney, Cork and Wexford.

That is the cauldron into which Education Minister Richard Bruton plunges as he does the traditional Easter rounds.

Along with pay, the minister will hear a lot about unsustainable workloads arising from the many well-intended educational initiatives being rolled out.

Teachers complain that this has been done without adequate back-up resources and – another perennial theme – that there is a lack of funding for school running costs. Leaky roofs, fundraising cake sales, the pre-fabs that haven’t disappeared and the schools in high-speed broadband deserts may all get a mention.

TEACHER shortages will feature heavily, grist to the mill for union arguments about lower pay scales, which, they say, are turning people off the profession and sending droves of newly qualified teachers to tax-free economies to save for a mortgage.

Well, minister, what do you have to say to all that?

There will be positive, if not definitive, noises about pay. Mr Bruton is sure to talk about how valuable teachers are to society and central to his ambition for Ireland to have the best system in Europe by 2026. He will speak about what he has done to address shortages and seek to distract delegates with an invitation to look into the crystal ball with him and envision how his plans for more inclusive system and curricular reforms will make that dream come true. The likely response?

All very fine, minister – but how can it happen, if teachers feel undervalued?

Every new teacher has a beef with the Government over pay, so the noise will get louder