The president of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has called on education and health authorities on both sides of the border to invest properly to support children with additional needs.
Speaking in Derry at the opening of the INTO annual congress, Dorothy McGinley said the authorities needed to address the root causes which are linked to the current shortfalls in children's mental health and therapeutic services.
Referring to the ongoing teacher shortage that is seeing special education teachers taken from their work to teach mainstream classes, Ms McGinley said this was not acceptable.
Again referencing the difficulty many schools in urban areas are facing recruiting and retaining teachers, she said it was unacceptable that Ireland has 2,000 unfilled teaching posts. This is because schools cannot find teachers to fill them.
The INTO, which is an all island union, is meeting in Derry for the first time in 90 years.
Its president said a commitment was needed "to investment to create the conditions in which all children can thrive and teachers can teach".
Minister for Education Norma Foley, who addressed teachers at the INTO congress, was greeted by several dozen delegates with placards protesting Israel's actions in Gaza.
Ms Foley was applauded by delegates including those holding the placards when early in her speech she condemned "direct hits on more than 200 of the 563 school buildings in Gaza since Israeli bombing began".
She told delegates that before the Israeli offensive, more than 625,000 students and 22,000 teachers were attending school in Gaza.
"But according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, no education is happening in Gaza at all for nearly six months," Ms Foley said.
To applause, the minister said there was no alternative to the unhindered humanitarian access called for by the UN "if we want to avoid mass hunger".
INTO delegates greet Norma Foley in Derry this evening with placards referring to 14,600 children "brutally murdered" in Gaza, & others dying from "forced starvation". pic.twitter.com/Y41DcS97EJ
— emma o kelly (@emma_okelly) April 1, 2024
Teacher shortage central theme at teacher conferences
The teacher shortage is a central theme at both this year's INTO congress and also at the ASTI and Teachers Union of Ireland annual conferences, which begin in Wexford and in Killarney tomorrow.
Reflecting the position of all three unions, Ms McGinley said: "We need to get our teachers back from abroad. We need to lure them. We need to pay them well.
"We need to give opportunities for career pathways."
She said the INTO would over the course of the next year prepare a business plan to convince the Irish Government to allocate at least 15% of total government spending to the Department of Education before 2030.
On spending, Ms McGinley said the energy crisis and the ever-rising cost of living meant the pressure on school budgets was relentless.
Addressing another key concern of all three unions, she said the system had not properly recovered "from the moratorium foisted upon schools with regards to posts of responsibility".
"Important promotional posts which would help with distributive leadership and career pathways have been greatly diminished for 15 years."
Referring to the fact that the union is meeting this year in Derry, Ms McGinley who is from Donegal and teaches in Strabane, said the INTO was committed to the pursuit of equality and justice.
Quoting John Hume she said "Difference is an accident of birth and should never be a source of hatred… the answer to difference is to respect it".
Read more: What NI could learn from education in Tanzania
But, she said, it was "shameful that 26 years on from the Good Friday Agreement that here in our own tiny country that there is now an ever-present danger that the hate and toxicity of extremists is creating a climate of fear for many people".
"As a union, we have been strong in our condemnation and in our campaigns in relation to the shocking and unspeakable reality for the people of Gaza," she said.
"The unbearable human tragedy is a genocide."
The INTO's ambassador's group had been active and loud in its campaign to highlight the catastrophe.
Referring back to Northern Ireland, Ms McGinley said now that a functioning government has been established in the North, it was time to establish an all-island education forum and she said the INTO was well placed to lead on this initiative.
She pointed to a new level of collaboration which has begun between the eight education unions across the island. They met formally for the first time last month.
"Sharing good practices and articulating the challenges faced by education unions can benefit education in all its realms across this island in the years ahead," she said.
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ASTI to debate call over masters for teachers
Second level teachers' union, the ASTI, will debate calls for the two-year masters for teaching to be reduced to just one year.
The union notes that for most teachers the two-year masters, after a three- or four-year primary degree, means a qualifying period of up to six years. It also sees the high cost of the PME - estimated to be in the region of €10,000 - €15,000 in fees - acts as a further deterrent to entering the profession.
The Teachers Union of Ireland will call for contracts of full hours to be offered to newly recruited teachers as one of several measures to try and make the job more attractive.
All unions want to see measures introduced to encourage Irish teachers working abroad to return home.
The potential negative impact of AI on education and in particular the assessment of students is another hot issue for both second level unions.
A key motion at ASTI Annual Convention in Wexford will explore the potential uses that AI might be put to by students who are completing projects as part of Leaving Certificate assessment.
The union says their concerns are particularly relevant given Minister for Education Norma Foley’s proposal that newly reformed Leaving Certificate subjects will give a greater proportion of marks for coursework completed during the year as opposed to written exams.
The TUI will hear that AI should not be allowed to replace or displace the work of teachers or lecturers and should only be used where it can complement the work of the educator and enrich the experience of the learner.
Minister Foley has addressed primary school teachers in Derry this evening. She will attend the ASTI convention in Wexford tomorrow, before travelling on to Killarney where she will address TUI delegates on Wednesday.
The minister has announced the second tranche of grant funding due to schools under the Digital Strategy for Schools programme. €50 million for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will be issued shortly to primary and post-primary schools.
