FERMANAGH teachers have said they are campaigning for a reduction in their workload, and pay is not currently their priority.
On Thursday, the majority of teachers’ unions rejected a 5.5 percent pay rise and took action short of strike from Monday.
Local teacher and member of both the NASUWT executive committee and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Executive Committee Sally Rees explained why the offer was rejected.
“If you were talking to your average teacher who voted no in this ballot, what you would hear from them is ‘it wasn’t about pay it was about workload’,” explained Ms Rees.
The main reason is commitment on the management side to address workload issues.
“The kickback from members there was when we came off action in April last year we signed up to a workload agreement, and that laid out very clearly how workload was going to be improved for teachers.
“That was around making sure we have a work life balance, that the distribution of work in schools is fair, transferable and everybody has a directed time budget because teachers are directed for 1265 hours,” Ms Rees added.
“So that workload agreement has been rolled out in schools but not actually adhered to in the majority of schools and the difficulty of that is that teachers saw that as soon as they came off action short of strike action their workload has gone through the roof, teachers are stressed, there is an increasing rise in workload pressures.”
Ms Rees explained what she would like to see within an offer.
“First of all we would like to see the original workload agreements from 2020 and 2024 adhered to and implemented properly in school and we would like to see a directed time budget for teachers that actually includes all of the work they have to do,” she said.
When asked by the ‘Herald if strike action is on the cards for teachers, Ms Rees said it is “a very last resort”.
“At the moment we are on action short of strike action, we would never rule out strike action but I think it is really important to note that teachers go out on strike as a very last resort.
“It is always quoted back that it is a detriment to young people and to children, that is the last thing teachers want, if you have a teaching workforce that is under resourced, under funded, and over worked, tired and stressed out, that is not going to give you the quality of teaching that you want.
“So if you want the best for your pupils and your children and young people then you need to respect your teaching work force and treat them like the professionals that they are.”
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