The country’s two post-primary teacher unions are set to press ahead with talks about a merger after an initial survey indicated overwhelming support for the proposal.
The survey, carried out in April, sought to gauge support for the idea among members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI).
Members of both came out strongly in favour, with levels of support above 80 per cent.
About a quarter of the combined total membership, 9,945 teachers, participated in the poll, with 8,298 saying they were in favour of the move in principle and 8,423 indicating they favour the merger talks proceeding.
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Turnout was similar across both unions, and the percentages in favour were also close, with 86.7 per cent of ASTI members in favour of the process going ahead compared with 82.9 per cent of those who were TUI members. Asked if they were generally in favour of the proposal in principle, the respective figures were 85.4 per cent and 81.7 per cent.
“I think that goes to prove how similar we are,” said TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie on Thursday.
Traditionally, the ASTI represented the interests of teachers in voluntary secondary schools – mostly run by religious orders – while the TUI represented teachers in vocational, community and comprehensive schools.
“Our roots may have been in different education systems but those differences have disappeared,” he said. “I think maybe an older generation of teachers retain some of that sense of difference but the vast majority now see no difference. It’s all one secondary education system, something that’s underlined by the amount of movement there is now, especially since Covid.”
He said one of the many positive aspects of the poll was the high level of support indicated among TUI members working in higher and further education. There had been some concern these members might have had reservations about a merger in which they would be far outnumbered by secondary school colleagues.
Mr Gillespie said it was hard to predict what sort of time frame might now be involved in getting to the stage of a final ballot, given the scale of the work involved but “the results here are going to focus minds”.
In a statement made by the two unions to their members, they said “it is impossible to predict when said proposals will be ready, but the leaderships of both unions are committed to working together in good faith, with the aim of conducting a ballot as soon as is appropriate”.
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