The employers' body IBEC has called on the Government to withhold payment of the 13 per cent benchmarking award to teachers who refuse to introduce a new science course.
IBEC says the ASTI directive banning co-operation with the new course is in clear breach of the benchmarking deal, where payment is linked to increased flexibility and changes in productivity. One quarter of the 13 per cent has already been paid, but IBEC says the remainder should now be withheld.
Last night, ASTI reacted furiously to the statement. It said IBEC had misinterpreted its decision not to teach the new course. It said IBEC should be focusing on better science facilities in schools instead of targeting teachers.
Last week, ASTI's executive decided to ban co-operation with an ambitious and much praised new Junior Cert science course. The course, which places a huge onus on practical and laboratory work, is designed to arrest the huge fall-off in numbers taking science subjects in the Leaving Cert exam.
But ASTI says the course cannot be introduced until proper laboratory facilities are in place. It also wants more in-service training for teachers and the introduction of lab technicians to assist science teachers. The union would also like to see the report of the Task Force on Science fully implemented.
ASTI said members had been given the choice of teaching the new or the old course by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey. IBEC, it said, had misinterpreted its decision.
But last night Mr Brendan Butler, the director of ICT Ireland (the IBEC body representing the high tech sector), said he was dismayed by the ASTI move. He called on the Government to withhold the payment of benchmarking awards to teachers who follow the directive and fail to teach the new syllabus.
Mr Butler said the ASTI directive is a clear breach of the spirit and intent behind benchmarking. The taxpayer, he said, will have to fund benchmarking at an annual cost of £1.1 billion. If this directive is an example of what we can expect in return for benchmarking, it augurs poorly for the future, he said. He said the new Junior Cert course was a central plank in the effort to revive student interest in science. This year less than 13 per cent of Leaving Cert students were enrolled in chemistry and 17 per cent in physics.
ASTI said it was surprised that IBEC, which had three members on the Task Force on Science, was responding in this way to its directive and asked what IBEC was doing to ensure that the Task Force proposals - such as better school laboratories and better training - were being implemented? The ASTI directive means some students will be examined on the old course in 2006 and others will be examined on the new course. TUI members are thought likely to implement the new course.
IBEC's statement reflects some concern in Government circles that the ASTI executive is opening up another front in its long and bruising pay battle with the Government. But ASTI insists it is motivated only by important health and safety issues.
Mr Butler said the decline in science at second level could seriously undermine the future of the high-tech sector. Almost 100,000 people are employed in the IT sector in Ireland and exports accounted for almost €31 billion in 2002..
