I want to start by thanking you for your invitation to join you in Tralee at your annual congress and for your warm welcome.
I consider myself privileged to have been given the job I wanted in what is, in effect, a National Government.
This week in speaking to your colleagues in the INTO and ASTI I have been setting out the challenges we face as a country and what that means for the education sector.
I am anxious to ensure that all of the education partners are in no doubt of the very difficult road that lies ahead and I equally want to share my perspective with you.
My party respects the role of the trade union movement in this country.
We place a strong value on all that is good in public service.
I understand how at your annual congress you must discuss and debate the issues that matter to you.
There are issues that concern you as individuals but also issues that come from your concern about education provision and particularly how schools and colleges are resourced and it is appropriate that they are aired and debated.
EU/IMF
I for my part, however, want to be totally frank with you about the resources that are likely to be available for education in the coming period.
I am not going to pretend that that the resources available for education can be improved, that the new Government can reverse earlier decisions that you may be critical of, or indeed to pretend that further difficult measures can be avoided.
The bottom line is that Ireland has to reduce its expenditure on public services and that means further difficult and painful decisions.
I may agree with you that we should not have reached this space but that being said we must deal with the reality of our current position.
We all need to come to terms with the extent to which our reliance on EU/IMF funding means that we operate with reduced economic sovereignty.
The parties that have formed the new Government have done just that.
On the back of a historic election result Fine Gael could have sought to form a Government with the support of independents.
The easy road for the Labour Party would have been to take up the role of the largest opposition party for the first time in the history of the State.
Both parties chose instead to form a National Government precisely because the gravity of the situation demanded such a response.
The position is stark.
I have repeatedly made the point that the country is akin to being in receivership.
Ireland is unable to borrow in the markets the money that is needed to fund services and provide for capital programmes.
To put it simply, the money dispensed by ATMs to all public servants, including public representatives, to enable us engage in our daily activities and purchases comes from ECB monies provided to our banking system.
That money is made available to Ireland by the European Central Bank at fortnightly intervals.
Every two weeks, the Governor of the Irish Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, has to confirm to the ECB that Ireland is meeting the terms of the EU/IMF bailout as they presently stand.
Michael Collins, the State’s first Minister for Finance, had in 1922, more room for manoeuvre than Michael Noonan has today!
In forming a National Government we have one overriding objective - by hard work and carrying through difficult decisions, to regain our economic sovereignty.
Only when we do so can we return to the position where an Irish Government can make unfettered decisions.
My words sound harsh but it would be dishonest of me to diminish in any way the difficult road that lies before us.
Let me also say very clearly that I fully realise that very many of you in your own lives have experienced the real impact of the current financial problems that have faced and continue to face our country.
I know that you have all had to deal with significantly reduced income and living standards.
Many of you or members of your family have experienced and are experiencing negative equity and difficulties in making ends meet.
I appreciate that there are particular pressures and anxieties affecting those of you who do not hold permanent full-time positions.
PUBLIC SERVICE
I also know that you are not insulated from the wider impact of the current recession on those children and families with whom you relate in your daily working life.
You see at first hand the devastation that the economic crisis has brought to families in your communities.
You meet the fall-out from struggling homes in the classroom every day – job losses, reduced salaries and crippling mortgages are all too common a reality.
I want to thank you for the very valuable support, encouragement and stability that you provide in the daily lives of children in your care at a time of great uncertainty.
You do so in the best traditions of public service.
I also want to take this opportunity to stress my own personal commitment to the concept of public service and to the role of the public servant in the life of this country.
More than ever it is vitally important that those of us in a position of political leadership affirm the contribution of public servants to the wellbeing of this country.
My first job was as a public servant in the housing architects’ department of Dublin Corporation and today as a public representative and Minister I too am in public service.
I retain a tremendous respect for that calling and for all that is honourable and good in the concept of service to the wider community.
I also want to emphasise my strong view that at this time of national emergency it is vitally important that we look to unity across our population as opposed to promoting division or sectoral interests.
This is not a time for confrontation but rather of working together.
Times of adversity such as those that we now live in have the potential to bring out the best in people and can spur us all to make a greater contribution to the common interest.
The core purpose of the Croke Park Agreement is to allow us to manage better with less.
Because, make no mistake about it we have to manage with less.
In accepting the agreement I want to acknowledge that you have agreed not just some general commitment to new approaches but have concluded detailed and significant arrangements with my Department which you are now proceeding to implement.
I think that it is vitally important, and I am sure you will accept, that implementation must be real and meaningful on the ground, bringing real value to our education system and that the changes must be clearly visible to pupils and parents.
As you know a fundamental purpose of the changes agreed under the Croke Park Agreement is to provide additional time for schools and teachers to engage in essential activities such as planning without intruding on the tuition time of students.
This has been a major historical deficit within our system and one which we must now deal with for once and for all.
In saying this I do not for a moment take from the tradition of volunteerism among secondary teachers.
This strong tradition of our teachers contributing generously to the many out of school activities in their schools is one of the strengths of our education system.
It contributes greatly to the breadth and experience of the education given to our children.
I know that those of you working in the IoT and Further Education sectors have made great efforts to support people who have lost their jobs in recent years and in helping them to prepare for new opportunities.
I have no doubt that you will rise to the challenge again when further measures are outlined in the Government’s forthcoming Jobs’ Initiative to upskill those who need additional training or education.
I want to move now to respond to some of your specific concerns.
I know that your concern about maintaining services is not just one of self interest but that you also have the education of pupils at heart when you react to reductions in resources.
The reality is that the Government is equally concerned about the future for the children in schools.
But we know that we can only secure the future and sustain front line services if we can regain our economic sovereignty by being able to find lenders prepared to lend to us in the markets.
They will do so only if they are able to see that we have taken the difficult decisions and have made the necessary fiscal correction.
This is why the Government has decided to adopt the specific budgetary targets under the EU/IMF programme that must be met in 2011 and 2012.
The importance of meeting the targets cannot be overstated.
It is only by meeting those targets that EU/IMF funding will continue to arrive in this country.
It is only by meeting those targets that teachers and other public servants can continue to be paid and that those relying on social protection can continue to receive weekly support.
There are specific EU/IMF commitments and targets in relation to a reduction in the overall number of public servants on the payroll including teachers.
In the Education sector the task of managing our budget is complicated by the fact that enrolments will continue to increase
over the next few years.
While the Government is committed to protecting front line education services to the greatest extent possible, we must not underestimate the challenge in doing so against rising enrolments.
The recovery plan provides for a net reduction in teacher numbers in 2011, notwithstanding the need to provide additional posts to meet demographics.
The detail on the measures involved was outlined in the 2011 budget.
These budgetary measures have been notified to schools and will proceed as planned to take effect from September 2011.
The recovery plan also provides for consultation with the education partners in relation to how best to achieve a further reduction in teacher payroll costs from 2012.
In the coming weeks my Department will be inviting the TUI along with the other relevant partners to work on identifying such savings.
Controlling the overall number of teaching posts is about containing public service payroll costs.
But there are trade-offs here.
Payroll costs are a function of pay rates and the number employed.
In Croke Park the construct is that reductions will be achieved through numbers reduction.
In addition, there is the commitment to redeployment of those with permanent contracts over the option of redundancy.
This cannot be achieved easily and I appreciate that for those of your members who have held fixed term contracts there is increased uncertainty for the year ahead.
We need to redeploy teachers into positions that traditionally have been filled by teachers on fixed term contracts in order to deliver on the commitment in relation to no redundancy for those in permanent positions or who have acquired a C.I.D.
I want to acknowledge the work done with my officials on concluding arrangements for redeployment across all school types which did not previously exist.
I want to be honest with you today and set out clearly where we are at as a country.
LITERACY AND NUMERACY
However the road ahead is not is not simply about saving money.
It is about making sure we deliver the best education we can for all our learners.
The outcome of the PISA results last year are a wake up call against any complacency about our educational outcomes, particularly as regards literacy.
I recognise that literacy begins in the home and must be supported from the home.
Schools face additional challenges where this support is not available in the home for whatever reason.
That’s why we must also address adult literacy issues so that as well as improving their own skills, parents will be able to help their children with homework and reading.
It is not sufficient to claim that we have a good education system - we must strive at all times to ensure that we do. Improving literacy and numeracy skills is vital for the future of this country.
As I said yesterday and I will say again the issue is not about whether teaching methods have been adequate in the past or entering any blame game.
Rather what we have to do is work collectively to ensure we do much better in future.
I am heartened and impressed by the response to my Department’s invitation for submissions on the draft literacy and numeracy plan.
I look forward to the finalisation of the plan in the coming months.
In talking to you today I want to stress that improved literacy and numeracy outcomes are a challenge for schools and teachers at all levels and for all teachers in all schools.
This is not just a primary school issue and not just the task of teachers in particular subject disciplines or those providing remediation support.
To put it simply the Geography or History teacher must also respond to the challenge.
Being able to read and write well is a vital life skill for every individual and is the enabler of all wider learning.
It is vital to a person’s life chances.
A person’s horizons are forever narrowed without that foundation.
So today, I’m asking each and every one of you to make improving literacy and numeracy skills a priority when you return to your classrooms whatever your subject discipline and whatever age your students are.
If we all make small but effective changes we can really make a big difference over time.
One practical example is for all teachers of first year pupils to ensure that they are fully aware of all assessment information provided for each of their students by the primary schools they previously attended.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Striving for improvement in standards and quality does not end with the school system.
We are also embarking on a process of development and change within the higher education sector, using the framework set out in the National Strategy for Higher Education.
Recognising what has been of value and building upon those foundations is the hallmark of any successful change agenda.
Your members have much to be proud of in relation to the institute of technology sector, where the distinct ethos and mission has been of huge importance to Ireland’s social and economic development in recent decades.
As Irish society continues to evolve, we need to ensure that the higher education system remains dynamic and responsive to its changing environment.
Strengthening mission diversity and supporting the development of a network of strong performing institutions can help to enhance the quality and responsiveness of the overall system.
I believe that there is strong merit in the development pathway that has been laid out in the strategy for the creation of a small number of technological universities.
Any process of re-designation will focus on the capacity of amalgamated institutes of technology to meet mission relevant performance demands.
It is my intention to publish the detailed performance criteria for a re-designation process at an early stage.
The ultimate creation of new technological universities, working with existing universities, institutes of technology and other education providers, and with characteristics distinct to Irish requirements, can enrich the diversity and quality of the Irish higher education landscape.
The future system should be one of a coherent network of diverse institutions, collaborating regionally to offer wider choice, flexible opportunities and high quality research and teaching to our communities.
The extent and pace of change over the next two decades will be very considerable.
We need to create the necessary system responsiveness in higher education to meet varied expectations of an increasingly complex society and fast changing and radically different demands of future learners.
Creating the capability and capacity to meet these new demands will require innovative and flexible structures, systems and work practices, linked to clear performance expectations and accountability for performance outcomes at system, institutional and individual levels.
Early implementation work is now underway on the range of recommendations set out in the strategy.
Your partnership in delivering on the broad agenda for development will be vital and welcome.
Aside from the higher education sector, we are also dealing with changes in the further education and training sector.
In that regard, I commend the work of your members in achieving the enrolment numbers you have achieved in our PLC centres.
At the moment, we are considering the future for the further education and training sector and the options available to us to ensure that we deliver on the goals set out in the National Skills Strategy.
It is clear that we need a flexible and robust further education and training system that can respond quickly to changing needs and that provides meaningful opportunities to those who need and want them, including the unemployed.
In common with the higher education sector, your partnership in delivering on the objectives in the National Skills Strategy in the further education and training sector is welcome and vital.
Before concluding I want to consider one further issue that I know is of concern to your members.
It has no material cost implications and does not impact on the public finances but it does matter hugely to those concerned.
I am referring to the anxieties of those members of the teaching profession who are concerned that the fact that they may be gay or lesbian could be held against them, either in an explicit or a more subtle manner, by the management of some schools.
While the concern may in part derive from one possible interpretation of certain legal provisions I believe that the real challenge is to change attitudes.
Therefore I am more than happy to have my Department work with your officials and the relevant education partners on developing codes of practice to address this issue.
I began by setting out the realities of our current position as a country.
However we must also be clear that it is by taking the difficult but necessary corrective action on our public finances that we create the hope for the future.
It is what will restore our economic sovereignty and lead to a brighter future.
I referred to the position as stark – stark but not bleak.
It is not a situation devoid of
hope.
I am confident that if we take the difficult decisions now an Irish Government can again determine alone the future of our public services and deliver on the hope of our people for a better economic future.
For those of us who believe in the value of public services to our society and to our economy then we have to get the maximum from the resources we can allocate to them.
In Education if we focus on our common objective – that of providing the best education for all children – I am sure we can together make great progress.
As teachers and lecturers you occupy that precious space of providing hope for the future for each learner you encounter when you strive to deliver a quality educational experience.
You help shape and equip young minds to meet the future head on.
You impart the skills and preparation they require to make their way in a different world where higher levels of educational attainment will be needed.
I wish you well with the rest of your congress and above all I wish you well in your dedicated work in our schools, colleges and institutes in the year ahead.