In a joint statement today, the Presidents of the four Irish teacher unions state that investment in education is critical to sustainable economic recovery.

In their statement, they say: “The message is clear. Compromise education and you not only compromise the future life chances of an entire generation, you put economic recovery in jeopardy.”

The Joint Statement from the Teacher Unions is available here.

The leadership of the unions is determined to reflect the anger of teachers at the budget cuts to salaries and changes to pensions through a sustained campaign of opposition.

The four unions said the unilateral imposition of a pay cut in the budget was completely incompatible with social partnership, which in the view of the four teacher unions is now over.

All of the unions categorically rejected out of hand any suggestion that talks on a transformation agenda could continue. The unions said Government had its chance to talk last week but spurned the opportunity. “Those talks are over,” said a spokesperson. “They will not be restarted.”

The joint Press Release is available in full here.

The General Secretaries and Presidents of the four Teacher Unions issued a Joint Statement after their meeting today (Tuesday, 22 September 2009). “We want to send a crystal clear message to An Taoiseach and his Ministers that we will not accept the scape-goating of our members to pay for a financial crisis which we did not cause.

“Teachers and lecturers have already suffered a severe drop in living standards. If more pain is necessary, it must be spread fairly and evenly over those who can most afford it. Singling out public servants for special treatment is nothing more than an ill-thought out recipe for social division.”

The Press Release is available in full here.

All four unions are gravely concerned that cutbacks already in place are having a detrimental effect on the education system. Staffing and other cutbacks at primary, post-primary and third-level are severely damaging the education system and the country is at risk of suffering a sharp fall in educational standards if the sector is further targeted.

The unions are committed to maintaining the highest standards within the education system, particularly for the disadvantaged in the communities in which members work.

As trade unions, there is also concern for the security of tenure and conditions of service of teachers and lecturers.

The Press Release is available in full here.

“In view of the crisis now facing our sector, I am proposing that the Heads of Irish Universities and all those in senior management in education unite with IFUT and other employee bodies in education, to work together to defend the entire sector,” Mr Jennings said.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

“This report, and, in particular, the parts of it which relate to education, will come to be regarded as one of the most short-sighted documents in Irish education history. At a time when more and more people are turning to education as an intelligent, self-enhancing alternative to unemployment, how could any group of consultants recommend a total reduction of almost seven thousand jobs in education, two thousand of them in higher education alone?”

The IFUT Press Release is available is full here.

The Press Statement announcing the release of the report is available here.

The report itself is in two volumes, Volume I and Volume II.

Access to the report on the IFUT Website is restricted to IFUT members only.

There is a better, fairer way is available here.

He criticised the “crocodile tears of current Education Minister, Batt O’Keefe, who bemoans the low level of third-level participation, while at the same time pursuing an increase in teacher-pupil ratios at first- and second-level, making access to third-level all the more difficult, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Mr Jennings condemned the current chronic under-funding of Irish universities. “It would represent dangerous naïvety on their part if the Heads of our Universities were to believe that a return of third-level fees would mean anything other than the Government using it as an opportunity to reduce State funding to the sector still further.”

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

The Minister for Education, Mr Batt O’Keefe, TD, has displayed a lack of understanding and failed to impress on the Minister for Finance the importance of adequately funding education to promote economic and social development, IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings said.

“Apart from the continued massive underfunding of the educational sector, the Budget reveals new evidence of the Minister’s lack of empathy with the sector.

“The anticipated massive increase in third-level registration fees, elimination of child benefit for students over 18 and the abolition of the Early Childhood Development Centre and Education Disadvantage Committee all point to a serious decline in educational opportunity for disadvantaged sectors of society.”

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.