Towards a Better Future

Chapter One: Teaching and Learning
(Hargreaves & Fink 2006, p.255ff; Hogan et al. 2008, pp. 22-23, 83; Sahlberg 2011, Ch.3). Where
policy and practice are concerned, if scheduled time isn’t made available for such activities, it’s
difficult to see how things like school self-evaluation, mentoring of newcomers to the profession,
or indeed systematic feedback to students, can become hallmarks of the professional cultures of
teaching. In this connection it is significant that a recent DES circular envisages the ‘provision of
professional time for teachers’, within the scheduled weekly hours, for professional and collaborative
activities (DES 2016a, pp.16-17).
There are big issues here, which must be carefully identified and faced. The initiative on the provision
of professional time for teachers is a welcome new departure by the DES. However, the changing
nature of teaching as a practice means that the time-in-school question needs to be looked at anew,
by all of the education parties, as does the ratio between teaching time and non-teaching time.
Progress in this endeavour would need to be made through a series of changes that are clearly seen
to be significant and meaningful. For instance, an important early step might see the unloved idea
of ‘Croke Park hours’ profitably replaced by a negotiated settlement on the use of teachers’ time; a
settlement that does justice to the necessities of 21st century educational practice. Such a departure
would need take due account of EU norms for the average working week and to study in some
depth the ingredients that have brought about sustainable improvements in jurisdictions that are
broadly comparable to Ireland. In short, this points to the necessity for a newly-designed working
agreement, or contract, for teachers in Ireland’s schools rather than for self-contained agreements on
individual issues. Some form of a New Deal is appropriate here. The original New Deal concept is
associated with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s initiatives that closed the curtain on the Great
Depression in the US in the 1930s and focused collective energies on achieving a brighter future.
A New Deal begins with a public acknowledgement on all sides of the hurts and hardships caused
by a prolonged economic downturn. Against this background, it continually keeps an eye on the
larger picture, including relevant international policies, when devising strategies for remedy.
In this connection, the most recent EU data available on teachers’ contracts and working conditions
has many illuminating things to say, including the following comparative note:
In the great majority of European countries, teachers’ working time is largely
determined by their teaching hours. However, in most cases, additional activities are
also included. The number of hours they must be available at school for other
activities, such as meetings or management duties, may also be specified, as occurs
in 18 countries. Overall working time is a concept used in the majority of countries
covered, and corresponds to the total number of working hours a week, as set down
in collective bargaining agreements or other contractual arrangements.
(European Commission, 2013, p.73)
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