Mr. Pat Burke:

The first step in many of these issues is recognising that there is actually an issue. Collectively, we were probably slow to do this in the case of second-level teaching. Many young teachers in that sector spend quite a few years on fixed-term contracts which do not provide stability or security and which have ramifications in terms of their ability to buy houses, etc. There is also the fact that they may not be on full hours because their services are not required for all of the school day. Steps and measures - one of which involves the ability to redeploy resources - could be taken to improve the position in both the medium and longer term. One of the difficulties in the system - we have made some strides towards improvements in this regard - concerns the stand-alone employer at the level of the school.

If a school ends up in a situation where there is a mismatch between the teachers it has and the curriculum it wishes to offer, that can create a problem for it. In a way we need to create more flexibility in movement in the system to be able to move on the agenda of giving people greater permanency. This is an area, as the Secretary General said, that has been one of the commitments in the Haddington Road agreement and we are working on it with the unions and management at present.