The president of ASCL Northern Ireland, Victor Coert, is warning that a lack of investment in education and failure to resolve staff pay disputes, funding and unacceptable workloads has ‘contributed to a hesitancy amongst university graduates to join the profession and a sense of injustice within the teaching workforce’.
When addressing the ASCL NI annual conference, held today at the Titanic Hotel in Belfast, he will say: “The pay dispute continues to be a major difficulty for both ASCL members and teachers across Northern Ireland…the workforce in England, Scotland and Wales have settled their pay dispute while our members and workforce here in Northern Ireland wait in line.
“The starting salary for teachers in Northern Ireland is approximately £6,000 less than the rest of the UK. Competitors are offering graduates in Northern Ireland opportunities we simply cannot rival. We are losing our potential workforce year after year.”
In keeping with the theme of the conference, ‘Transformational Leadership’, Mr Coert will conclude with the challenge that: “Transformational leadership is required from everyone in this room - school leaders, civil servants, and all other stakeholders. We all need to visualise and work towards the difference we want to see in Northern Ireland education in the very near future, committing ourselves to creative solutions.”