Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

It’s taken over a year, but maybe, just maybe, all the disruption to teenage schooling is coming to an end after the government accepted a recommendation by the Arbitration Panel and offered to increase secondary teachers’ base salaries by 14.5 percent by December 2024.   This package to settle the teachers and principal’s agreement is the final offer from the Government, and will add $680 million to the $3.76 billion already set aside by the Government to resolve this issue. The extra money is coming from savings found in departmental funding through project deferrals, a forecast underspend on staffing and removing the reimbursement of bank staffing.   The Post Primary Teachers Association is “pleased” to see the offer and will be recommending to members they accept it ahead of a vote next week. Wouldn’t that be good.   I think we all agree teachers are undervalued. I think we accept their argument for a pay increase matching inflation, better conditions so they can do their jobs more effectively and a deal