Stand up. primary education. Make your vote count. Election Special. possible with candidates who canvas you at home.

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1 Election Special Stand up for primary education Make your vote count In December the INTO contacted the main political parties and groupings and posed specific questions on primary education and on teachers conditions of service. The responses received are on the following pages for the information of members. Updates on issues affecting teachers that arise in the course of the general election will be posted on Questions for candidates Enclosed with this edition of InTouch you will find a door hanger containing some questions you may like to put to election candidates when they come looking for your vote. The questions on the door hanger focus on vitally important pay and professional issues for primary teachers. On the other side are some facts which may be of help when raising these issues with candidates. All members are asked to keep the questions on the back of their front doors and raise as many of them as Will you Stand up for primary education General Election 2016 Olltoghchán 2016 Questions for Candidates Ceisteanna d iarrthóirí restore the pay of entrants since 2011 to that reduce class sizes to average EU levels of 20 per class? end the public provide more time for teaching principals to lead schools, restore middle management posts and address in 2008? reverse cuts to special needs, Traveller and increase funding deliver adequate broadband and funding for IT possible with candidates who canvas you at home. your election candidates There is a facility on the INTO website to assist any INTO member who wishes to send an to all candidates standing for election in a constituency. The prepared covers issues such as pay, class sizes, promotion, principals, funding of schools and ICT. Members may also wish to add particular issues of concern at local level to the end of this . Members are urged to use this facility to contact candidates as part of the stand up for primary education campaign. Your name and address indicates to the candidates that the sender of the is a registered voter in the constituency. Your shows that it has come from you and not from a third party and facilitates a response. No data from this campaign will be retained by INTO or released to any third party. INTOUCH 1 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

2 Olltoghchán 2016 Fianna Fáil In further pay agreements, we believe there should be a focus on equalising pay for new entrants and we are committed to restoring full equality of treatment for teachers. As a first step, to ease the burden on schools with 'super-sized' classes, Fianna Fáil will immediately reduce class sizes at primary level. Over the term of government, year-on year we will progressively implement one point reductions in average class size, prioritising reductions for the youngest children under-9 years of age. ere is a need to improve take home pay of both teachers and other school staff. We believe improvements for public sector workers can be achieved through changes to pay levels, the pension levy, universal social charge, PRSI and PAYE taxes, or a combination of these. e pension levy should be reformed in a manner that is consistent with our stated objective of ensuring that low and middle income earners achieve the greatest benefit. by Independent adjudicators in 2008? Fianna Fáil is committed to giving schools one administration day per week for teaching principals. In Budget 2017, this could be achieved at a cost of 10 million. Fianna Fáil is also committed to rebuilding middle management structures by removing the moratorium on posts of responsibility for assistant principals, ensuring that any additional posts are used to meet broader curriculum objectives of individual schools. As a start, we will provide for the appointment of approximately 250 new assistant principal posts, at a cost of 3 million in 2017/2018. Fianna Fáil will ensure that teachers' supervision of extracurricular activities such as sports can contribute towards the attainment of Croke Park Hours. To ensure ongoing improvements for education outcomes among the Traveller Community, Fianna Fáil will restore the Visiting Teacher Service for Travellers at a cost of approximately 2 million. We are committed revising the allocation criteria for EAL posts to ensure that students receive greater levels of language support. Fianna Fáil will remove the cap on the expansion of the DEIS program to new schools and enhance investment in underperforming DEIS schools. We will also increase supports to the School Completion Program and reverse the cuts imposed on the program. We will implement an immediate increase in capitation funding for primary schools, at cost of additional 21million per year, and a restoration of pre-2010 capitation levels by 2019/2020 ( 35 million). We are committed to the level of capital expenditure outlined in the Digital Strategy, including a multi-annual budget of 210 million 2016 to Maintenance funding, especially, needs to be put on a more predicable basis. To do this we will put in place an ICT maintenance fund, which can be worth up to 5% of a school's ICT stock per annum. We will also put in place a system for streamlining maintenance and support services in schools. We will fund a new coordination role for Education Training Boards in each geographic area which can be shared between clusters of schools. Anticipated costs approximately 6 million. Will you shorten the timeframe for the restoration of cuts to pensions and raise the exemption threshold by 10k? In relation to pensions in payment, Fianna Fáil have committed to removing the public service pension reduction on pension incomes up to 50,000. INTOUCH 2 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

3 General Election 2016 Green Party ere needs to be a fair starting salary for new entrants. Supports in this area will be improved, through strongly increased funding to the education sector. e Green Party will raise education investment to 7% of GDP by 2020, including improving teacher/pupil ratios as a key part of the goal. e goal of the Green Party in improving pupil-teacher ratio is not simply that a given class of 19 students now has 18 in it. Our primary goal in reducing the pupil teacher ratio is to enable the more flexible use of alternative teaching experiences, such as one-on-one learning, and enabling small group peer-to-peer learning. ese experiences may only represent a small number of hours in a student s learning year, but they can be critical in establishing new patterns of engagement and understanding among students and teachers. ey also permit greater time devoted to active learning outside the classroom and school, where higher levels of student supervision are required and improve student and teacher motivation. is will be achieved through a strong financial investment in the education sector as a whole. Investment in education and the welfare of our youth is needed now more than ever. It will result in an economic return. If we fail to invest effectively, the ability of our workforce to attract and retain jobs will be seriously damaged in decades to come. e Green Party will strengthen Excellence, Equality and Inclusion throughout the education system., we have always held that this is an unfair levy. by independent adjudicators in 2008? Supports in this area will be improved, through strongly increased funding to the education sector. We will also provide improved training supports, with training for senior management in schools allied with probationary periods for senior managers., definitely. We will protect and value Tteaching resource hours and the role of special needs assistants in school. All special needs assistants must have a recognised appropriate qualification. We will strongly maintain and improve supports for students with special needs. We will use school expertise, in conjunction with parents, in allocating student access to learning supports. is will reduce overreliance on costly assessments (National Education Psychological Service) and give more flexibility to schools. We will systematically review the needs and welfare of students with special needs to create and ensure an integrated approach across our health and education systems. Financial support to primary education will overall be improved through strongly increased funding to the education sector. Our policy supports improving ICT delivery through teacher training. We propose nationwide ICT training for teachers under the National Centre for Technology in Education, so that teachers have developed ICT skills relevant to teaching. e use of ICT in supporting those with additional educational needs should be a component of all ICT training. Funding for establishing or renewing equipment will overall be improved through strongly increased funding to the education sector. We have a good track record in improving broadband coverage (which was the first step needed before speeds could be improved). INTOUCH 3 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

4 Olltoghchán 2016 Labour When I spoke at the INTO Congress in April 2015, I made clear that I had one personal and political priority for the year to achieve a reduction in class sizes in Budget In October, I was delighted to confirm that Labour in Government had delivered that priority. But that work has only begun. Class sizes in Ireland remain considerably higher than the EU average, and that is something Labour is determined to change. Since 2011, we have worked to enhance initial teacher education, to make sure that every teacher is a qualified teacher, to better support teachers during their probation, and to put in place an effective fitness to practice regime. All of these are required to maintain a top-class teaching force. But good teachers must have the time and space to give every child the attention they deserve. Labour will progressively reduce class sizes during the lifetime of the next Government to an historic low, reaching an average class size of 20, and putting an end to the idea that any classroom should ever contain more than 30 children. Schools need funding as well as teachers. Labour has a plan to significantly increase school funding in return for a commitment to end the practice of asking parents for voluntary contributions. We believe that this approach can give schools the stable funding they need, while also providing much-needed relief to parents. In relation to public sector pay, the Labour Party negotiated with all public sector unions to deliver the Lansdowne Road Agreement, which has begun to unwind Fianna Fáil s public sector pay cuts, while doing so in a progressive fashion by focusing first on the lowestpaid public servants. In the first instance, we are determined to implement that agreement with the unions, and will not accept any efforts to renege upon it. We are also committed to negotiating a new public sector pay deal in 2018, in advance of the conclusion of the Lansdowne Road Agreement to deal with remaining unresolved issues arising from the FEMPI acts. We are committed to ensuring that the principle of equal pay scales for equal work in the public sector is an established one. e Labour Party wholeheartedly believes in the need to support school leadership. In Government, we have established a new Centre for School Leadership, with a ring-fenced budget to provide greater mentoring, support and qualifications for school leaders and those aspiring to leadership positions. In the last budget, we were able to provide teaching principals with more days out of the classroom, and that progress will need to be further developed over the coming years. We will reform the model of school leadership in schools to provide greater support to school leaders, and we will also explore how ETBs can provide greater administrative support to all schools to reduce the amount of time that school leaders must spent on administration. School leadership is just one element of effective school performance. We also need to invest in ongoing reform of our school system, including providing greater choice of patronage, developing modern and flexible curriculum approaches, and investing in the use of technology in our classrooms. Labour s Digital Strategy for Schools will deliver an unprecedented 210m investment in IT equipment in our schools, and we have committed under the national broadband plan to extend high-speed broadband to every primary school in the state by Finally, I would like to add that combatting inequality is at the heart of everything the Labour Party will propose in the forthcoming general election. e review of DEIS which is currently underway will give us our first opportunity in over a decade to reexamine how we tackle entrenched levels of educational disadvantage in society the Labour Party will make sure that this review leads to an expansion of the number of schools supported by the DEIS programme. INTOUCH 4 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

5 General Election 2016 People Before Profit Equal Pay People Before Profit is committed to restoration of the pre 2011 common basic payscale for all teachers and the full reinstatement of all allowances. e cuts to teachers pay, and to the pay of workers across the public sector, were completely unjustified and imposed huge financial difficulties on many households. e cuts were undertaken to pay for the recklessness of other sectors of society who managed to get their debts written off and imposed on the shoulders of current and future generations. PBP believes that these cuts must be reversed as a matter of priority. Class size PBP is committed to a maximum of 20 pupils per class in all infant classrooms, with a maximum of 15 in DEIS schools. Furthermore, PBP will reduce class sizes at senior level to 24 pupils in single age classes, 20 pupils in two age group classes and 15 pupils in classes of three or more age groups. DEIS schools should have a maximum of 20 pupils. PBP will release funding for a large scale building programme to provide extra schools and classrooms as required to achieve these goals within the life time of the government. We believe that a study on teacher supply in light of demographics and smaller class sizes, needs to be undertaken in conjunction with the INTO and completed within three months of government taking office. Undergraduate and postgraduate training courses can then be expanded as necessary. Public sector pension levy and pension cuts PBP is in favour of the immediate abolition of the levy and also of the full and immediate restoration of public sector pension scheme based on final salary to all public sector workers along with the reinstatement of a retirement age of 65. Principals/management Increase the release time for teaching principals with full sub cover Restore posts of responsibility to preausterity levels. Pay the increases that were awarded to principals through the benchmarking process, but were postponed in Capitation grant/funding Double the capitation grant with immediate effect. Initiate a review of primary school funding to determine the appropriate levels needed to ensure all necessary running costs, including maintenance of ICT, are adequately met. Remove all costs for parents/ guardians associated with attending primary school by providing free school transport, free school uniforms, free lunches and free school books as is the norm in many countries Reversal of cuts to special education, Travellers etc PBP is committed to the reversal of all these cuts that were imposed on the most vulnerable groups within education. Teachers and principals have done huge work in integrating and including children with very different needs within their schools. However this has not been matched by government support. Extra staffing in the form of resource, EAL and learning support teachers along with SNA provision is a key priority in any education system that seeks to be child centred progressive and inclusive. PBP prioritises the provision of these supports and will reverse all cuts and protect all exiting posts in schools. Schools will be facilitated in clustering posts as they see fit to best suit the needs of the children in their care. NEPS will be expanded to ensure that all evaluation, consultation and interventions are provided as required for children in need of support. e current caseload of between 12 and 40 schools per psychologist is unacceptable as is the 5,000:1 ratio of students to psychologists. Following assessment, PBP commits to ensure the provision of all necessary teaching and therapeutic resources for children who require them. Maintain, properly resource and support the VTHVI Service (Visiting Teachers for Children with Hearing and Visual Impairment). e service will remain staffed by teachers. INTOUCH 5 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

6 Olltoghchán 2016 Sinn Féin Sinn Féin condemned the cuts to teacher pay when they were introduced by the former Minister for Education Ruarí Quinn. Teaching is a precarious industry now and newly qualified teachers are being forced to emigrate in order to get paid a decent wage and achieve a basic standard of living. NQTs are expected to do the same jobs as their colleagues for 11k less than them. e disparity in wages arising from these cuts will also cause resentment amongst staff and greatly impact on the delivery of education in the classroom. Sinn Féin does not believe a two-tier pay structure for teachers is acceptable. Many children are taught in overcrowded classrooms, with an average pupilteacher ratio of 24:1. Sinn Féin agrees that smaller classes benefit young children and for this reason we proposed reducing class sizes by one pupil in our last Alternative Budget document, providing for an additional 250 teachers with a view to working progressively to a PTR of 20:1. Sinn Féin made provision for payment of the LRA in our Budget 2016 proposals and will honour the agreement in Government. In future negotiations our first priority with regards to pay and pension restoration will be low and middle income workers and pensioners. We believe that the excessive pay and pensions paid to a tiny minority of public sector workers and pensioners must be remedied. by independent adjudicators in 2008? Teaching principals in small schools are in effect doing two jobs and need more free time from class in order to run the school effectively. For this reason, Sinn Féin set out in our Alternative Budget how we would increase the time out of classrooms for teaching principals by one day per month, creating an additional 108 teaching posts. Further to this we believe the threshold of 178 pupils for acquiring an administrative principal is too high. We would reduce this threshold to 145 pupils (creating 176 new teaching posts) so that children in small schools do not miss out. Where a teacher has responsibility for the leadership, management and administration of a school, they can become overburdened by the competing demands of being a principal as well as a teacher. When the small amount of time is taken up with managing the physical resources of the school, it takes away from the time a principal can dedicate to development, monitoring and coaching teaching standards of others, which can lead to a negative effect on pupils. Since 2011, there has been a 15% reduction in the level of resource teaching hours allocated to children with special needs, despite there being an increase of over 8,000 children with special needs requiring resource hours during the same period. A child receiving three hours 45 minutes ofresource hours now would have received five hours before the cuts introduced in It is essential that the 15% additional allocation of time is returned so that it is brought back up to the 2010/2011 levels. Sinn Féin believes the capitation grant should be increase by 2% as we are aware of the difficulties faced by schools in meeting their basic running costs, such as providing, heat, light and insurance for school buildings. Government cuts have put an undue burden on parents by way of voluntary contributions, as school management boards try to make up the decrease in funding. Students suffer when they have poor or no access to broadband and it immediately puts them at a disadvantage when carrying out their daily activities. Increasing aspects of teaching are done online and all students must have access. ere must be continued engagement with rural communities to identify black spot areas specifically affected and investment should follow to remedy the problems. Will you shorten the timeframe for the restoration of cuts to pensions and raise the exemption threshold by 10k? See previous answer on pensions. INTOUCH 6 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

7 General Election 2016 Social Democrats by independent adjudicators in 2008? (i)by improving the allocation of principals release days with substitute cover. (ii)by lifting the moratorium on special duty posts. (iii) By connecting every school with fibre broadband and funding ICT hardware and software for education. Will you shorten the timeframe for the restoration of cuts to pensions and raise the exemption threshold by 10k? Fine Gael Fine Gael did not respond to the questins submitted by the INTO in December. e party said its education proposals would be made known when its election manifesto was launched Renua Ireland RENUA Ireland did not respond to requests for answer the questionnaire. e party did forward its manifesto. e following are some of the party s views on primary education: Primary Education e party claimed incorrectly that Ireland is a country that now lags rather than leads in primary education. RENUA proposed that principals be given eight year-long renewable terms. Posts of responsibility should be open to an interview process every five years. Primary schools will use standardised testing in the area of literacy, language and numeracy twice yearly. Parents will be informed of these results as soon as they are available. e privileges currently available to DEIS Schools will be rolled out to all schools. Renua stated that its aspiration is to reduce student teacher ratios in line with international best practice. INTOUCH 7 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016

8 Olltoghchán 2016 Austerity Alliance & Socialist Party. It is a deplorable policy of a separate salary scale for NQTs flies in the face of the trade union principle of equal pay for equal work. New entrant teachers on separate and lower pay scales (including lower pensions) are being penalised for a crisis they didn t create or cause and it is unequal, unfair and unjust. We are committed to restoring the pay scales for 2012 NQTs who must be paid fairly for their work. We are committed to a continued reduction in class size to reach 20 pupils per class. We would start by making a substantial reduction to early year classes. e abolition of the public service pension levy is long standing Socialist Party/AAA policy. We view the PRD as an unfair and selective charge aimed at penalising public servants. We are in favour of a progressive tax on the super wealthy, a financial transaction tax, and equitable tax on major corporations. Big business in Ireland continues to reap the rewards of a tax regime which leaves their considerable profits largely untouched. by independent adjudicators in 2008? At the moment, a principal of a three/four teacher school gets 18 nonteaching days per year of administrative leave. We fully realise this is not enough and think it should be increased to a day per week with substitute cover to give teaching principals adequate time to carry out their administrative duties. e moratorium on promoted posts which has existed since 2008 has placed a huge individual burden on principals and should be lifted immediately. e statutory and legal responsibilities of school leaders has exploded since the Education Act of 1998, there are extra responsibilities in special education, child protection, public and legal accountability at the same time as diminished resources and lack of funding. e benchmarking award of 2008 was awarded by an Independent Body recognising the contribution of school leaders and as such this award should be honoured now, given the extra responsibilities they have shouldered since No section of society has suffered as sustained an attack on their education services as the Travelling community. State spending on Traveller education has fallen by 86% since e Visiting Teachers for Travellers Scheme and Resource Teachers for Travellers scheme should both be reinstated with immediate effect. e cuts to Traveller education were made because it s easy to target the most vulnerable. Similarly newcomer children who would have previously had access to specialist support from EAL teachers have also had this service mostly withdrawn. All children deserve an equal chance at education. Education should be a right for everyone and not just the privileged. Children who are educationally disadvantaged should be a priority for any Government. DEIS has done much to target extra resources at children who need them. And while DEIS schools do great work, 50% of children who are educationally disadvantaged do not attend a DEIS school. All cutbacks to the present DEIS scheme should be reversed and the scheme extended to include other educationally disadvantaged communities and pupils with extra resources being made available to cater for that. At present the state gives primary schools 170 per pupil per year to cover running costs. is does not cover basic running costs and many primary schools are in financial difficulties. Even if the capitation grant were to be increased to secondary school levels it is still a paltry amount with which to run a school and more funding should be made available to both primary and secondary schools. AAA/SP would demand as a minimum that all schools and classrooms should be re-equipped and reconfigured to deliver ICT. High speed broadband would be a priority and up to date technology installed in schools. As well as equipping schools with the necessary hardware and software, priority would also be given to support teachers delivering ICT in schools as well as funding schools to ensure that they have the necessary monies to deliver technical support. e AAA/SP supports the INTO s ten point plan to support ICT in primary schools. Will you shorten the timeframe for the restoration of cuts to pensions and raise the exemption threshold by 10k? Pensions have been substantially reduced since the FEMPI was passed by the Oireachtas. e AAA/SP is committed to securing a fair deal and pay and pension restoration for teachers and other public servants. INTOUCH 8 ELECTION SPECIAL 2016