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EVERY SECONDARY SCHOOL across the country is open today as the ASTI prepares to sit down with the Government and thrash out a deal over teacher pay.
The action taken by thousands of teachers concerns equal pay for those who began post-2011 and pre-2012, and who do not get the same pay as their other colleagues.
Actions planned by the teacher union revolved around pay for supervision and substitution duties.
Currently, teachers who are members of the ASTI do not get paid for supervision of lunch breaks or substitution duties.
The General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), Michael Moriarty, this morning welcomed the decision by the ASTI to suspend their industrial action.
He said: “We are relieved that the union has agreed to defer the directive to its members not to engage in supervision and supervision duties, which will permit all schools to open fully from today.
It is a relief that school life for students, which should always be our first consideration, can return to normal.
“Talking is always better than walking, and we exhort both sides to take this as a serious opportunity to find an acceptable compromise to ensure that the school year remains uninterrupted.”
The Department of Education last night released a statement welcoming the announcement.
It read: “The Department confirms that it has received an invitation from Anna Perry, chair of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC) and director of conciliation services, Workplace Relations Commission, to meet with her tomorrow to discuss matters of mutual concern relating to the ASTI’s industrial action that fall within the remit of the TCC.”
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So what if its a different time in the UK. We do enty of business with countries in different timezones. Some countries even have different timezones with in the one country so again it makes no difference if we’re on a different time to NI. I’d personally prefer to stay on summer time all year but Im not that pushed. Just as long as we get rid of changing the clocks.
Scrap it outdated and doesn’t serve a purpose anymore.
Continue with changing the clocks.
Anyone with toddlers will know, it’s an absolute nightmare trying to adjust their sleeping patterns after the time change. Also it’s preferable to have more daylight in the evening available to school kids. Not to mention the fact that roads would be safer because volumes of traffic increase towards evening.
@Paraic: I disagree. However, if we stay on summertime then when winter rolls around it won’t get bright until close to 10am which means kids walking to school in the dark. If this has to change then remaining on wintertime is the only option so it’s not dark when the kids are going to school and coming home from school.
@Ian Breathnach: kids already go to school on the dark as the hour time difference means it gets bright close to 9. Unless you live next door to the school your kids go to school in the dark in winter.
@Dave O Keeffe: The vast majority of kids live within 10 to 15 minutes of their school. It’s bright by 8.50am in the depths or the winter.
What time is it?
It’s about time
Stop. Hammer time…
This was tried before and people had a problem that it was dark at 9am when children were heading off to school.
@Aine O Connor: how did people manage 100 years ago when the time was changed and lighting wasn’t as good?
@Aine O Connor: indeed it was. It happened in 1969. It was changed back in 1970 for the very reasons you stated.
Groundhog day, we keep revisiting this time when socialists with fanciful ideas thinks a keynote speech awaiting by the world and worthy of flying his royal bum in a learjet to go 100 miles up the road.
Wish there was an ‘I’d like us to consider moving to Central European Summer Time’ box?
If we stay on winter time we will still get bright evenings but we wont have really dark mornings. Its hard enough to get out of bed and don’t think its safe to bring kids to school in the dark.
I look forward to the time change after Christmas. Can we change the time before the end of March, like in February or something and make a shorter winter?
Stay on summertime please, we know if the morning is dark it will get brighter but once it’s dark in the evening that’s it!! Most children are driven to school anyway and in urban areas they have street lights. We’ll manage just fine if UK is on different time zone to us, most of Europe is and we do business with them!!
@Teresa Birney Codd: finally someone talking sense
@Teresa Birney Codd: finally someone talking sense!!!
It’s cheeko time ….
What’s time to a goat ?
All those almanacs being printed right now…
It seems the problem is simply the change. Statistics of heart attacks make a clear jump upward the few days every year after changing to summertime when we suddenly have to awake and get up an hour earlier.
Some would claim that it evens itself out in the autumn when we are allowed to sleep an hour more, as the same heart attack statistics show less heart attacks that and following few mornings. For the ones that are killed by the time change in the spring it was tough luck as nobody told them and for the saved in the autumn just pure luck.
The take awayis that if we sleep too few hours not only can we become grumpy but also suddenly die from it.
Moreover both Thatcher and Ron Reagan bragged that 4 hours sleep was enough. Both ended their days without knowing what was going on, in Alzheimer’s. Now shown to be aggravated by too few hours of sleep.
have your say