So, here I am posting my ballot for the ASTI and our position on the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA).  This is not an easy decision to make.  We have all kinds of claims and counter-claims going on.

To set some context.  The Croke Park Agreement was due to last until 2014, and the government dumped it.  They signed an agreement, and when it didn’t suit, they binned it.  Naturally, this is a massive problem for anyone looking at the conditions of the HRA.  How long will it last, what of promises contained therein?  If the government can scrap one agreement unilaterally, what’s to stop them doing exactly the same again?  In short, I don’t trust the government to keep its word.

But, is the renegotiated HRA a good deal?  Obviously the full time members of the union think so, they wouldn’t have presented it to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) otherwise.  But that CEC have rejected it, and recommend that we, the members, vote no.

And what will happen if we vote no?

In a remarkable piece of scaremongering, the Department of Education and Skills released numbers outlining how many schools will close, and how much money teachers will stand to lose if they reject the HRA.  The Irish Times and other media have covered this.

• An ASTI member who votes no will end up on about €660 per month less than a member of the TUI by 2020.
• An ASTI member who joined after 2011 will have no access to the permanency panel
• ASTI members in over-quota schools will be liable to compulsory redundancy
• ASTI schools will have no posts of responsibility restored
• No commitment to restore salary if the economy improves

And what if we vote ‘YES’?

• Well, There’s a promise to reverse the cuts in 2017 and 2018
• There’s a promise to review over-casualisation of the profession
• There will be discussions on a fairer rostering system for Substitution & Supervision (S&S)
• There will be discussions on how to make better use of the 33 out of school hours
• There will be a new pay-scale for teachers who started after 2011
• Pay increments will be awarded
• We still get to do the extra out of school hours
• All ASTI members will have to do S&S, but now members can opt out in return for a pay cut

None of the choices are good.  On one hand it looks like the government is trying to emasculate the unions, and even squeeze the ASTI out totally.  Also, a ‘YES’ vote brings many promises, and, based on what happened to the CPA, I don’t trust this government to keep its agreements.  By outlining the financial cost to members should they vote ‘NO’, the government has resorted to bully boy tactics.

On the other hand, the HRA goes some way towards restoring proper pay to new entrants. This was something which should have been fought earlier.  Think about it.  Just because someone became a teacher after 2011 they are entitled to a lower pay grade.

There is a huge divide among teachers on how to vote.  In her blog, Evelyn O’Connor is going for a ‘YES’ vote, and has been very eloquent in her reasoning for doing so.  Many teacher friends of mine are voting ‘NO’, and are equally eloquent in their reasoning for doing so.

Looking at what this government is capable of, I have no doubt that they will enforce the FEMPI legislation.  I believe that they will go for a full attack on teachers and are willing to close schools in order to enforce these cuts.

My instinct since the vote was announced has been to vote ‘NO’ but now that I’m at it, ‘YES’ seems to be the lesser of the two evils.  Neither vote is positive.  However, on the basis that parity of pay is closer for new entrants, and with the possibility that some elements can be examined I think that I don’t have the stomach for a fight.  I certainly don’t have the financial leeway to take the loss of pay that a strike would bring.

I’m angry, and I feel that the bullies are winning, I feel that in voting yes, I’m complicit in allowing the bullies to win.

There was a great line in Dr. Who’s “The Day of the Doctor”.

• “We may fail, but at least we will have failed doing what we believe to be right, rather than succeed in doing what we know to be wrong”

I may not have that level of integrity.  However, I have at least made a decision and my vote will be counted.  I hope that there will be a high turnout by my ASTI colleagues, and whatever the vote, we will respect that decision, and stand together.

Earlier this year at school we started discussing the idea of getting some support for our counselling service in school.  Just to recap – in our school we have two people who do counselling – a guidance counsellor and me as chaplain.

So, in our search for more resources we came across the MA in Art Therapy as offered by the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design. This MA programme takes mature students and works with their natural ability in art with their desire to help others,

Students of this programme must maintain their own art portfolio and each week spend time in studio. Along with this they learn about different aspects of psychology and how to integrate this knowledge with art in order to work with people who could do with therapy.

Two weeks ago I had the great chance to go to the teaching area for the course.  It was a great day, and I came away very optimistic about what this programme can offer our students.

From the start of the day, things looked good.  The other people present worked with various psychiatric services, addiction services, nursing services.  They all have trainees from the programme working with them, and had come along to tune themselves better into what can be expected, and how Art Therapy actually works.

For the first part of the day we learned about the structure of the course and what was expected of the students.

Next we went to a studio to experiment for ourselves.  We were given a task of producing something that expressed how we were.  To be honest we were supposed to produce something that expressed how we felt about different aspects of a student of the programme working with us.  And me being me, I forgot most of the instruction.  Anyway, we were given 20 minutes.

Anyway, I chose clay, and made this:

Interestingly, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do when I started.  I had vague ideas of doing  a head or something.  The point is, once you relax, it was possible to do things that you didn’t expect.

What’s this one about?  Moving from left to right, from tears (via a broken and repaired heart) to the rays of sunshine.  Many people who work to help others do so out of knowing what it’s like to be hurt themselves.

The last part of the day was the question and answer part.  This is where we got through the nitty gritty of how the placement system worked, and how we could adapt it to our own institution’s needs.

And so it begins.  In January we will have someone working in our school who is training on this programme.  I’m looking forward to it.  Some students may benefit very highly from something like this rather than just talking.  There is a lot of potential, and I reckon our students will stand to benefit from it.

Will there be more updates on this?  Nope.  State secrets at that point!

But, if you are interested in Art Therapy, here’s a link for you:  http://www.artincontext.eu/

People may know that I’ve been a member of Fine Gael for a few years now.  I’ve tried to be a good boy and go to meetings, selection conventions, and I’ve even gone out canvassing for my local TD and county councillor.

Well I’ve decided to resign from FG.  This decision didn’t come quickly, but it has become inevitable over the past few weeks and months.

Why, and why now?

For a while I accepted the idea of Austerity.  I accepted the idea that the country was broke, and that we all had to take a hit in order to get ourselves out of the mess that we were now in.  That’s a philosophy I no longer subscribe to.

The cuts have been brutal beyond anything imagined, and have been applied in the most clumsy manner possible.  The government have used very blunt instruments.  For example, the moratorium on employment within the health service is causing an incredible amount of distress for patients and staff.

Think it through.  As people retire, they are not replaced, thereby putting more pressure on the ones who are left, making them more likely to retire or just look for something different.  This leaves the remaining employees under ever more increased pressure.

Ask anyone who has had to wait on a trolly, wait for an appointment, or wait for a doctor who hasn’t slept in 30 hours to find a vein for an injection.

What has been done to those who depend on the services of the health system is brutal.  The conditions forced upon many of the doctors and nurses are inhumane.

My personal area of experience is within education.

Schools are being decimated.  Something that is really hitting this year is the decision in budget 2013 to make careers guidance counsellors part of the teacher allocation of the school.  (Wha?)  Previously, secondary schools were entitled to have a career guidance counsellor.  Following the budget this changed.  Now if a school wants to keep its guidance counsellor then it must lose a teacher.  Or, it can keep class sizes the same but have no guidance counsellor.

Why is this important?  There are now so many college courses, and subject choices available that students need good advice in order to make the best choices possible.  Who’s the expert in this?  (Rhetorical question, of course)  But this is not the only area that these counsellors are trained in.  They also do valuable counselling work with students, and trust me on this, there are a lot of needs out there.

I’ve written previously on other cuts in education:

• Capitation
• Student / Teacher ratios
• Budgets
• Cuts to the National Educational Psychological Service
• Cuts to learning support
• Lack of Job Security for junior teachers
• The insult to new teachers of a different pay scale for them
• The removal of professional progression in the form of Posts
• The use of the ‘Job Bridge’ scheme to put teachers into a classroom for greatly reduced pay
• Enforced change to the Junior Cert 

So, for a number of reasons, I can no longer in good conscience remain a member of Fine Gael.  I have seen too much hurt imposed on too many people.  I’ve seen people struggle with paying the basic bills even though they have ‘nice’ jobs.  I’ve seen too many people left waiting for an appointment or a referral because there are now too many people who can’t afford health insurance.

Bye Bye.  It’s not me.  It’s you.

It’s been a busy few days.  For a few weeks now I’ve been putting together a peer mentoring programme for use in my school.  The plan has been to recruit a group of Transition Year Students,  train them as mentors, and then match them up with first year students.

So far, we’ve gotten to step 2.  Yesterday was our training day, and we had 18 students who did a really good day’s work.  They were a bit shy starting, but by the end, they were doing brilliantly.  They participated in the games, they came up with ideas, and they asked some really insightful questions.  The type of questions that require a good sit-down to answer.

By the end of the day they were exhausted.  I don’t think they’ve been involved in this type of workshop before (Games, theory, small groups, role-play, feedback and evaluations) Personally I think they are amazed about how good they felt to have so much done in a short space of time.

And now to get ready for part three.   On Monday I will meet the group again, and begin the task of pairing them up with first years.

Which brings me to – Why do this at all?  What does anyone have to gain out of having a Peer Mentoring Programme in a school?  And, how did we persuade a group of students to take on an extra job in a school?

I believe that peer mentoring has the potential to be a hugely positive influence on a first year’s experience of secondary school.  If any of us cast our mind back to what the first days and months in school were like, then it was often scary, intimidating, confusing.  A first year with an older mentor will have someone who can help them through all of this.

Peer Mentoring, as I see it, is relational.  The older students build positive relationships with the younger ones, and in doing so allow the younger students expression of their fears in a safe manner.  The relationship builds the confidence of the first years, while the added responsibility builds the confidence and sense of well-being for the older student.

Of course there may be difficulties.  What if a first year is experiencing bullying?  Then the hope is that they can tell their mentor.  It may be that a solution can be found at student level, or it may be the case that the mentor will need to contact a staff member for more support.  The key thing here is that the first year now has a conduit, and avoids the risk of being called a ‘rat’.

This ongoing relationship may not be easy for our TY students, and for that reason in the programme they will have weekly meetings with me to ensure that:

1. They are saying and doing the right things
2. That they keep personally developing as mentors
3. That they get the most possible out of the programme

Here’s hoping that the whole thing will work out.  I’m delighted with the group that worked with me yesterday, and very optimistic about how the whole thing will turn out!