I want to start by thanking you for your kind invitation to join you at your convention today and for your warm welcome. I’m really delighted to be here. As you know I’ve only been in my new role for a very short time but having been involved in Education for many years in my previous role, I have followed your activities and have been impressed by the enormous dedication and commitment to education within your sector.
Your schools have a long and proud tradition of providing high quality education that meets the needs of your local communities. I know you see at first hand the devastation that the economic crisis has brought to families in your communities and I want to acknowledge the very valuable support and encouragement that you provide to pupils at a time when many feel that their futures are uncertain.
In large part what I have to say to you today is the same message that I imparted yesterday at the AMCSS conference in Killarney. I want to make sure as I begin my term of office that all of the education partners are in no doubt of the very difficult road that lies ahead. I want to make sure that there is no false belief that the resources available for education can be improved or difficult measures avoided. Ireland has to reduce its expenditure on public services and that means further difficult decisions.
I am concerned that the reality of our reliance on the EU/IMF funding has not been fully grasped by the general public and within the education sector and that there is as yet a less than full appreciation of the extent to which we operate with reduced sovereignty.
On the back of a historic election result Fine Gael could have sought to form a Government with the support of independents and 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. At its most basic, the money dispensed by ATMs to our public servants, including public representatives, to enable them engage in their 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 sovereignty. Only when we do so can we return to the position where an Irish Government can make unfettered decisions. I appreciate your concern about maintaining services and how you have the interest of pupils at heart when you and your schools 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 sovereignty by being able to find lenders prepared to lend to us in the markets because they are able to see that we have taken the difficult decisions and have made the necessary fiscal correction. 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 Education the task of managing our budget is complicated by the fact that enrolments will continue to increase over the next few years. Looking at post primary schools alone between now and 2016 we will be challenged by the need to cater for an expected 16,500 additional students. 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.
Notwithstanding provision for additional posts to meet demographics the recovery plan provides for a net reduction in teacher numbers in 2011. The detail on these measures was outlined in the 2011 budget. These budgetary measures have been notified to schools and will be proceeding 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. It envisaged the introduction of appropriate increases in the classroom teacher allocation schedules if the consultation process did not produce alternative feasible measures to deliver the required savings.
My Department will be inviting the relevant partners to work on identifying measures that can deliver further savings and given your track record of constructive engagement I have no doubt that ACCS can make a sound contribution to the process. I want to acknowledge the work done already in developing a cross sectoral redeployment scheme for teachers. It is a simple reality that in either primary or post-primary schools we cannot have a surplus teacher in one schools while we recruit to fill a vacancy in another school.
Our vision for the public sector is not simply about saving money. It is about putting in place the policies, structures and systems that ensure we deliver good services to our citizens. In that regard I have been briefed on the work that is underway on making appropriate revisions to the Deed of Trust and I look forward to seeing the final product from the working party.
I am also aware that through your national trustee forum you have in the past worked on practical ways of making the community school co-patronage model work more smoothly. I know my Department has suggested that further improvements to the structures are possible and will engage with the trustee representatives in that regard. I support all efforts to ensure that we modernise how business is done.
The work underway is important because it can ensure that the practical tasks of patron/trustee can be carried out in the most efficient and effective manner possible. This is a new era for the entire public service. Change will have to be delivered in each and every part of the public sector without exception.
In support of this agenda in the Education sector, the Croke Park Agreement contains an overarching commitment for teachers to continue to fully cooperate with the implementation of change and with national policies aimed at improving educational outcomes. The agreement also requires additional flexibility and co-operation from teachers employed in the Further Education area.
It is important that as school managers you ensure that the changes secured are fully delivered in your schools and that at local level there is no slippage or dilution. Boards of Management need to take an active role and seek reports from the school principal on how the “extra hour” is being implemented so as to protect the integrity of core classroom teaching and learning time.
An efficient and high performing public service is essential to ensuring a successful society and economic growth. For that reason, I believe that the focus of our education and training system needs to change. As I have said before “We learn to read so we can read to learn”. Literacy and numeracy are the foundation on which future learning can be achieved.
The Programme for Government makes clear our commitment to improving radically the literacy and numeracy standards achieved by our young people. I am determined that we will address the serious weaknesses in young people’s learning in this area. The conferences I am attending this week provide me with the opportunity to talk directly to school managers on this critical issue.
Securing improvement will require a determined effort on all our parts. We need to develop a comprehensive approach to improvement in the system. This is an issue to be grasped across all schools primary and post-primary. It cannot be regarded as an issue for someone else.
In second level schools it is a task for all teachers and not just those teaching languages or providing learning support. Literacy and numeracy and how your school is doing must become an agenda item at board of management meetings. Some boards of management are already helping principals and staffs to set targets for improving literacy and numeracy and are involved in monitoring progress in achieving these targets. It doesn’t need to be a complicated process. You simply need to question how your students are
doing.
It is well recognised that Principals have a really pivotal role in leading improvement in their schools. Targeted training for existing and aspiring principals will continue to be a priority for the support services within the available resources. Training will need to focus on practical ways in which the principal can lead his or her school community to improve teaching and learning. In this way, principals will be enabled to lead and be responsible for the delivery of improved learning outcomes for students.
I know you can’t achieve all this on your own. Other parts of the system need to change too. We need to revamp initial teacher education courses. Irrespective of subject specialism, all second level student teachers should complete mandatory units in the development of literacy across the curriculum and in related assessment procedures.
Once teachers are in the system, I want to ensure that they participate regularly in high quality, continuous professional development. CPD will have a particular focus on teaching and assessing literacy and numeracy in the coming years. The Government is committed to reforming the junior and senior cycle curricula in order to address the issue of rote learning.
We will prioritise the revision of the English curriculum for the junior cycle. We need to be much clearer about the standards that we want young people to achieve so that we can assess progress against our goals. The Inspectorate will develop a range of materials to assist school communities to reflect on their work and to review practice in a systematic and robust way.
The Inspectorate will be working with you and other education partners to develop and trial these materials in the coming months. As we have stated in the Programme for Government, we want to make literacy and numeracy a national cause. Parents and the wider community need to be involved too. To encourage this we will support local authorities’ reading campaigns and initiatives such as longer opening hours for libraries, homework clubs and summer camps.
In talking to school management both yesterday and today I have focused on setting out the very stark position about the public finances. I have entered my new job in the full knowledge that along with my Government colleagues I will have to take difficult decisions. I wanted to make sure that you have a full understanding of the situation and that school resources and the number of teaching posts are going to be under more pressure over the period of the EU/IMF support programme.
The bottom line is that collectively we must work to achieve the maximum from whatever resources we can make available to schools. We must at the same time strive to bring about every desirable change that we possibly can that will improve outcomes for pupils and I have used the opportunity provided to me yesterday and here today to put a particular focus on the priority area of literacy and numeracy. It is but one of many challenging tasks that lie ahead.
I genuinely believe that working together we can create a school system that is robust, fit for purpose and ready to take on new challenges. I want to finish by wishing you well for the rest of your convention. I look forward to working with you over the coming years.
Thank you.