Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) will have to work additional hours under proposals aimed at resolving an industrial dispute which forced the closure of hundreds of secondary schools earlier this month.
The proposals are contained in an eight-page document which is being considered by the union’s standing committee on Wednesday.
A decision by the ASTI’s standing committee over whether to support the deal will be crucial in determining whether it will be endorsed by the union’s 180-member central executive committee and wider membership.
Overall, the proposals are broadly similar to what has been secured earlier this year by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO).
The proposals state that by agreeing to work additional “Croke Park” hours and drop its industrial action, the ASTI would secure pay increases of up to 22 per cent for new entrants.
In addition, ASTI members would have access to the restoration of middle-management posts of responsibility announced in the 2017 budget.
There are also proposals which would allow thousands of junior cycle students in schools staffed by members of the ASTI to avoid penalties in their exams next summer.
This will be in exchange for the ASTI committing to dropping its industrial action and co-operating with junior cycle reform.
A deadline for students to complete an assessment task worth 10 per cent of their English exam will be extended from December of this year to a “second calendar window in the 2016/17 school year”.
On the issue of new entrant pay, a new scale will be created which is the sum of the current 2011 entrant scale and the honours primary degree allowance (worth just over €4,900).
Overall, these increases would narrow the two-tier pay gap by up to 70 per cent between now and January 2018.
On supervision and substitution duties, an opt-out will be made available on a once-off basis to secondary teachers with a minimum of 15 years service.
An opt-in to these supervision duties will be made available to teachers who opted out of the scheme in recent years.
These teachers would have their salaries adjusted by almost €1,800 depending on whether they participate in the scheme or not.
These measures would be in exchange for the ASTI agreeing to lift its directive on withdrawal from supervision duties.
