The Stormont Assembly needs to “take swift and decisive action” over pay for teachers and lecturers in Northern Ireland, delegates at a teaching union conference will hear.
Calls for MLAs to “listen to the anger” of education staff will also be made as members of the NASUWT teaching union gather at their annual conference just outside Belfast this weekend.
There are also demands for greater investment in schools and colleges in the north as well as more support for young people.
Motions on a wide range of issues affecting the teaching profession and education will be debated at the two-day conference at La Mon Hotel with education minister Paul Givan attending on Friday night.
High on the list of debates is pay and workload, governance, violence against women and girls, budget cuts and investment in education, teachers’ working conditions and SEN provision.
A paramount concern for the NASUWT is the need for funding for education.
It comes in the wake of the ‘Investing in a Better Future’ report by the Independent Review of Education in Northern Ireland, which among its key recommendations called for greater investment in education as a priority.
The conference will also debate the recent strike action, which saw NASUWT members join around 170,000 public sector workers in strike action across Northern Ireland in January.
The union’s members, who make up the majority of teachers and lecturers in the north, took the action as part of its ‘Better Deal For Teachers and Lecturers’ campaigns.
It followed other days of recent strike action in schools and FE colleges since last year.
During the conference, members will discuss calls for a strategy for engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive in a bid to ensure education is properly funded and the establishment of a single employer for teachers and one department of education.
There will also be talks around resisting any change to academic selection that involves classroom based assessment.
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “It is deeply regrettable that members have been put in the position where they have to take industrial action as part of their fight to secure better pay and parity with colleagues in other parts of the UK.
“Teachers have not had a pay increase for three years while FE lecturer pay is even worse.
“We call on members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to listen to the anger of teachers and lecturers and take swift and decisive action to ensure they receive a fair pay rise to bring them into line with their colleagues.”
Justin McCamphill, NASUWT national official Northern Ireland, added: “Since 2010 teachers’ pay has fallen by over 38% in real terms. It is now incumbent on the Executive to develop a plan which restores teachers’ pay.
“In further education, lecturers’ pay is set to fall even further behind teachers’ pay.
“This is unacceptable and must be addressed the employers and Department for the Economy.”
