Building a Better Future through Educational Justice

In the campaign to build a better future for all, Congress recognises the fundamental importance of public services and, in that context, the centrality and transformative potential of a high-quality public education system informed by principles of justice and equity.

This Biennial Delegate Conference therefore mandates the ICTU to campaign for:

• preservation of the education system at all levels as a public service and public good;

• public investment in education that sustains and improves the quality of the service at all levels;

• specific public investment in higher education by way of application of a levy
on corporate profits to generate a dedicated fund;

• deployment of the existing staff and infrastructure of the Education and
Training Boards to the provision of new apprenticeships, traineeships and other programmes that meet the economic, social, cultural and developmental needs
of learners, communities and other relevant stakeholders;

• targeted, multi-annual investment to address and eradicate educational disadvantage, with a particular emphasis on the disadvantage suffered by learners, primarily children, affected by homelessness;

• customised programmes, interventions and provision to address the needs of marginalised cohorts of learners, including migrants and asylum seekers;

• enhancement of capacity at school, centre and college level to meet the needs of learners with special needs and to achieve meaningful inclusion;

• accessible, free-to-learner progression paths through the various sectors and levels of the public education system;

• curricular provision in compulsory education that is informed by principles of justice and equity;

• meaningful consultation with and involvement of learners (and their parents/ guardians, as appropriate) in framing public education policy;

• assessment instruments that enjoy public trust and that are congruent with the objectives of curriculum and with the public good;

• a prohibition on exclusionary practices by any institution that is in receipt of public funds;

• the elimination of gender bias in appointments and in programme provision;

• the elimination of discrimination against teachers appointed on or after 1st January 2011 and the implementation of the measures needed to secure full pay equality between that cohort and their peers who were appointed prior to that date;

• the establishment of an appropriate career structure for those currently referred to as

  “tutors” in the Further and Adult sector.

  The ICTU is further instructed to pursue
  these objectives through the Education
  Sector Committee of Congress, through representatives and/or nominees of Congress on relevant bodies (such as the NCCA, ETBs, governing bodies etc.) and by advocating for an increase in public investment in education at national and EU level.