INTO Equality Conference 2010 Fáilte – Inclusion in the Teaching Profession

1. INTO Equality Conference 2010Fáilte – Inclusion in the Teaching Profession

2. One of the main aims of the INTO Equality Committee is to raise awareness of Equality Legislation among INTO membership. • Employment Legislation – Employment Equality Acts of 1998 and 2004 • Equality Legislation promotes equality and prohibits discrimination (with some exceptions) across nine grounds.

3. Nine grounds under which discrimination is prohibited • Gender • Marital (Civil) Status • Family Status • Sexual orientation • Religion • Age • Disability • Race • Member of the Traveller Community

4. Some of the aspects of employment covered under this legislation include • Advertising • Equal pay • Access to employment • Vocational training and work experience • Terms and conditions of employment • Promotion or re-grading • Classification of posts • Dismissal • Collective agreements

5. The Acts apply to public and private sector employees – teachers working in our schools.

6. Aim of Equality Conference • To examine issues of diversity and inclusion in the Teaching Profession.

7. Focus on three specific equality grounds • Disability • Sexual orientation • Civil/Marital Status

8. Why focus on these areas? • Ireland – rapid social change in areas of the law and in expectations relating to disability, sexual orientation and families. • Changes have implications for teachers in various ways

9. Disability • Covered in relation to employment and equal status in the Equality legislation of 1998 and 2000 • Significant development of case law on disability ground at the Equality Tribunal • ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ of disability – opened up debate about a fuller place for people with disability in society and at work.

10. Civil Service – provides a lead - 3% employment quota for persons with disabilities. • Northern Ireland – Disability Discrimination Act 1995 – protection for people suffering from certain illnesses – can bring claims for discrimination, victimisation and a failure to make reasonable adjustments.

11. INTO ‘Teachers with Disabilities’ Survey • Congress 2008 Motion • Equality Committee – INTO Survey 2009 • 3.3% (12) in Republic • 15% (6) in Northern Ireland • In majority of cases disability not known to employer • Nature of disabilities varied widely – depression/anxiety to hearing impairment, arthritic conditions, injuries, illnesses.

12. Most commonly reported impact on teaching career was need to take time off work, a reluctance to seek promotion, limited choice of teaching duties, restrictions on social interactions • All but 2 of these teachers had acquired their disabilities during their teaching career • Results indicate majority of teachers with disability wish to remain in work

13. Circular 0099/2008 – Occupational Health Service for teachers in Republic – recognised ‘reasonable accommodation’ provisions applies to teachers • ICTU ‘Disability Champions’ • How will teachers with disabilities be accommodated in employment terms in the coming years in our schools? • The input of teachers in this debate is very important!

14. Sexual Orientation • Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 – significant change in official attitudes to gay people. • Employment Equality Act 1988 and Equal Status Act 2000 made discrimination unlawful • Northern Ireland – decriminalised homosexuality 1982 • December 2005 – Belfast City Hall first same-sex civil partnership ceremony in UK.

15. Republic – Civil Partnership Bill published in June 2009 and introduced for debate in December. • Will establish a statutory mechanism for the registration of same-sex partnerships • Represents a remarkable societal change less than 18 years since sex between consenting adult gay people was a criminal offence in Irish law.

16. INTO LGB Teachers’ Group set up in 2004 – 14 members, now has 45. • LGB raises challenging and significant issues for the teaching profession • the visibility and invisibility of lesbian, gay and bisexual teachers in schools • the recognition of sexual orientation issues in school curricula • conditions of employment and related matters.

17. Anseo Conference – “ a piece of Irish social history” (Irish Times) – in October 2009 • Good Practice Guidelines for creating an inclusive staffroom for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff launched and distributed to all primary schools.

18. Section 37.1(b) of the 1998 Employment Equality Act – possible implications for teachers in denominational schools!

19. Constitution - Article 41 Family • ‘natural, primary and fundamental unit group of society’ • Only recognises the family based on a marriage between a man and a woman • Prohibition on dissolution of marriage in 1937 Constitution. Amendment ( Nov.95) allowing divorce followed by legislation - 1996

20. Constitution Review Group (1996) • Submissions that definition of family be amended to include units other than those based on marriage (based on relationship rather than structure) • Preferred option – retain present protection AND extend to all a right to respect for their family life – whether based on marriage or not

21. Varieties of Families(with children) • One-parent families • Same-sex couples and children • Co-habiting couples and children • Blended families

22. CSOStatistics Family Units • 12% - non-marital couples-1/3 with children- sharp increase over last 20 years • 18% - one-parent families (190,000) • 33.1% of births outside marriage-24,844 (more than half to co-habiting parents)

23. Traditional Family Household in Decline • One –person households on the increase ( up18.7% since 2002) • Continued fall in average household size – 2.8 (Dublin 2.5) • Co-habiting couples fastest growing family type (up 48,200 since 2002 to 121,800) • Fewer adult children living with parents

24. Marital Breakdown • 3,630 divorces granted in 2008 • 5,000 –including judicial separations & nullity applications • Slowing down & levelling off of rate since introduction of divorce - joint lowest with Italy -linked to fall in marriage rate and later marriages since 1970s

25. Supreme Court JudgmentDecember 2009 • High Court - lesbian couple – a ‘de facto’ family- entitled to protection of family rights • Supreme Court –‘There is no institution in Ireland of a ‘de facto’ family’ - Article 41 ‘…the family in Irish law is based on a marriage between a man and a woman’

26. Civil Partnership Bill(Legislative programme Spring 2010) • ‘..an extensive package of rights, obligations and protections for same-sex couples who register as civil partners’and ‘a redress scheme for co-habitants’ • Change ‘marital status’ to ‘civil status’ in Equality legislation

27. Separated Teachers’ Support Group • Set up 21 years ago • Support for members • Still difficult for separated teachers to be open in staffrooms – particularly in rural areas