I HAVE been given this opportunity to respond to yesterday’s column by Newton Emerson in which he stated the INTO was planning to take strike action on Friday March 10. This was incorrect. Factually untrue.
Firstly, I must address my comments directly to the members of the largest teaching union in Ireland - INTO.
When and if the INTO decide to take action it will be on the basis that you, the membership, have indicated your wish to withdraw your labour.
Secondly, it will be at a date and time of INTO's choosing and you the membership in the 1,160 schools will know before any media outlet or journalist is informed.
ÌNTO will never take action to suit the needs of the media to sell newspapers. It will only be taken when we feel that negotiations have failed and there is no other option but to strike.
It is disappointing the journalist in question, Newton Emerson, didn’t stop to check his facts and disappointing also that he didn't lift the phone to check with INTO.
INTO could have told him we had no intention of striking on March 10. Surely, a real journalist would have checked his facts before publishing such an inaccuracy?
In the remainder of the column which, even for Newton was remarkably self-indulgent, readers were treated to reminiscences of his time at school, the difficulties of dropping his children to school, his view of the school model from a historical perspective and the structure of the school year.
All mere appetisers for the main event - an attack on teachers and the teaching profession.
The Katie Hopkins School of journalism from which this piece originates may very well sell newspapers but it does nothing to advance the debate around the very serious issue of the economic importance of education and the critical role of the teacher in this process.
The devaluation of teachers’ salaries is a reality.
The article ignores these key issues and fails to promote an increased understanding as to what is now expected of teachers in the second decade of the 21st century.
Newton, in implying that the most important function teachers perform is that of a baby sitter, is deliberately provocative and insulting.
Teachers, classroom assistants and the other professionals involved in meeting the developmental and learning needs of all our children, are not to be confused with that army of professional childminders and family members who perform a different and no less valuable service.
Teachers are central alongside parents in ensuring our children and young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills to make their way in the world babysitters do something different.
The claim that children can be home schooled to the same level is a further unsupported criticism of the teaching profession. What is it Mr Emerson is implying here?
There is a debate to be had and that debate is about the central importance of education to the economy and the value that we as a society places on the teaching profession.
Columns like Mr Emerson’s quite simply debases teachers, who, every day, go into school and contribute to the education of the children in their charge.
Mr Emerson’s column focuses on the cost and fails to realise that value sometimes is of greater importance that the pound sterling.
This certainly proves to be why facts should get in the way of a story.
