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News: TUI says campaign against pay discrimination goes on; Supreme Court boosts home schooling rights
TUI says campaign against pay discrimination goes on
THE Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has said that it remains committed to ending pay discrimination, which it says was unilaterally imposed by Government on those appointed since 1st January 2011 and continues to see teachers and lecturers paid on different pay scales for carrying out the same work.
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The union said that significant progress has already been made, including the reinstatement of the value of the Honours Primary Degree Allowance to the post2011 Common Basic scale and the ‘skipping’ of points 4 and 8 across the various ‘new entrant’ scales (and also point 12 for current post-2011 teachers), which allows members to progress up these scales more quickly.
In October, TUI used the findings of the latest in a series of surveys carried out by the Union’s Principals and Deputy Principals’ Association to publicly highlight the significant damage that pay discrimination has inflicted on the education system, particularly in terms of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
The following grades are still subject to pay discrimination, with separate scales for those appointed before and after 1st January 2011: • Common Basic Scale (i.e. the scale for registered Post Primary teachers) • Assistant Lecturer • Youthreach Resource Person • BTEI Adult Educator • Adult Guidance Counsellor/
Co-ordinator • Adult Literacy Organiser and
Community Education Facilitator.
Sinn Féin Education spokesperson Donnachadh Ó Laoghaire has urged Minister Joe McHugh to finally address the issue of pay discrimination among teachers, ahead of planned strike action on February 4th. “It is unacceptable that you could have two teachers sitting in a staff room on two different pay scales despite doing the exact same work," he said.
Supreme Court boosts home schooling rights
THE Supreme Court has ruled that the exclusion of home-schooled students from the 2020 Leaving Cert calculated grades scheme was invalid and an 'impermissible' interference with the constitutional freedom of the family to provide education in the home under article 42.2 of the Constitution. 18-year-old Elijah Burke from Co Mayo was home-schooled by his mother, a registered teacher, but she was deemed to have a conflict of interest in providing estimated marks for the process. The High Court and the Court of Appeal held that the exclusion from the scheme was contrary to the law, but the State appealed against both rulings.
Chief Justice, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell said the constitutional right at issue was the right of parents to provide home schooling and the consequent right of children to receive it.
The Iona Institute described the decision as: "A big victory for the rights of parents".
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