Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It will be two minutes for each of us.

I extend my full support and that of the Anti-Austerity Alliance to the teachers, who are facing into strike action tomorrow. I am a member of the ASTI. I do not know if I am the only ASTI member in the Dáil who supports the teachers, but I am not the only ASTI member. In the short time I have, I want to put this strike in context. Teachers are taking a stance against changed work practices. They are workers. They are allowed to object to an increase in their workload or a change in their work practices.

They are also taking a stand for the education system itself. I am not one to quote Senator Fidelma Healy Eames on a regular basis, but she is quoted today as saying that this is "the tip of the iceberg for teacher assessment when compared with the 100% teacher assessment in place in other countries". That is what this is about. It is about an attempt to have all certification of students done at a local, school-based level. One begins with the junior certificate at 40%, then moves to 100%. Then one will move to the leaving certificate. An Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, made it clear in the programme for Government that a new system of self-evaluation would be introduced, requiring all schools to evaluate their own performance, year-on-year, and publish information across a wide range of criteria. In other words, league tables and schools competing with each other. This is about the commercialisation of the education system. I also object to things that Ministers have said. The idea that teachers are encouraging rote learning on a daily basis is an insult. If one moves to assessment, what do they think teachers will be spending their time doing then? They will be trying to get students through the assessments. In particular, working class students and students in disadvantaged areas who do not have the cultural capital of their parents to help them at home will be very reliant on the teachers to get them through those hoops.

There is no benefit in this for students. I urge parents to come out and support the students, to make it clear that the exams should be anonymous, they should be beyond reproach, and teachers should not mark their own students for State exams and accreditation.

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