INTO Equality Conference – March 2010
Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone
Theme Paper
Fáilte – Inclusion in the Teaching Profession
(A Focus on Inclusion related to Disability, Civil/Marital Status
and Sexual Orientation)
1.
Introduction
The aim of the Equality Conference is to examine issues of diversity and inclusion in
the Teaching Profession.
While required tests and standards restrict entry into teaching, the profession as a
whole reflects a changing society where accepted and traditional norms in a number of
areas are subject to constant revision.
Many forms of diversity are reflected in teaching, to a greater or lesser extent.
Examples of such diversity arise in areas such as gender, age and religious belief.
Following reflection, the Equality Committee has decided to focus for this Conference
on aspects of diversity and inclusion related to three specific equality “grounds”. These
three have been chosen because in each there are significant developments which can
be identified and which will affect particular members of our profession, and by
extension all of us, in the immediate and medium-term futures.
The focus of the Conference therefore is on inclusion/diversity in teaching related to
these grounds in Equality legislation:
• The disability ground
• The sexual orientation ground
• The marital status ground (Section 100 of the ‘Civil Partnership Bill, 2009’
proposes to change “marital status” to “civil status” on enactment of the Bill).
In Northern Ireland the ‘Sex Discrimination Order (NI) 1976’, as amended,
affords protection for married couples while individuals who live in a civil
partnership because of their sexual orientation are offered protection under the
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2003.
It is important to highlight at this stage that the “marital/civil status” ground is closely
related to changing ideas of the family in society. In some of the discussion below and at
certain times in the Conference, the idea of the family as it is evolving will be explored
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under the marital/civil status ground. (There is a separate “family status” ground, and
this refers to the existence of parental or primary caring responsibilities on the part of a
person). It is clear that the traditional view of a family based on the marriage of oppositesex persons and generally including children is one which is being reviewed.
2.
Change
Ireland has witnessed rapid social change in the areas of the law and expectations in
relation to families, sexual orientation and disability. Each of these changes impinges
on the teaching workforce in various ways. Outlined below is a brief account of some
of the changes which have taken place.
Sexual Orientation
It is less than 20 years since gay sex was decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland.
Section 2 of the Criminal law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 brought about this significant
change in terms of official attitudes to gay people. The ‘Employment Equality Act,
1988’ and the ‘Equal Status Act, 2000’ subsequently made discrimination unlawful on
the ground of sexual orientation.
Northern Ireland in 1982 became the last part of the UK to decriminalise
homosexuality. On 19th December 2005, Belfast City Hall was the venue for the first
same-sex civil partnership ceremony to be held in a UK registry office, under the Civil
Partnership Act, which had just come into force that month.
In the Republic of Ireland, the Civil Partnership Bill was published in June 2009 and
was introduced for debate to Dáil Éireann on 3 December 2009. This Bill, when
enacted, will establish in law a statutory mechanism for the registration of same-sex
partnerships. While this falls short of full marriage equality for same-sex partners, it
represents a remarkable societal change less than 18 years since sex between
consenting adult gay people was a criminal offence in Irish law.
A little over five years ago, an INTO LGB (Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual) Teachers’ Group
was formed with the support of the Organisation. This group has continued to raise
challenging and significant issues for the teaching profession in terms of visibility of
gay, lesbian and bisexual teachers in the workplace, the recognition of sexual
orientation issues in school curricula, conditions of employment and related matters.
Disability
Change for persons with a disability has been less dramatic. A widely-defined ground
of disability was, however, covered in relation to employment and equal status in the
Equality legislation of 1998 and 2000. Since that time, there has been significant
development of case law on the disability gournd at the Equality Tribunal.
In employment terms. the Civil Service has provided a lead in establishing a 3%
employment quota for persons with disabilities. The Equality legislation provision for
“reasonable accommodation” of disability, in the workplace and in the provision of
public services, has opened up a debate about a fuller place for persons with disability
in society and at work.
In Northern Ireland, protection against disability discrimination is afforded under the
‘Disability Discrimination Act, 1995’. Further developments to this legislation have
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enabled individuals who suffer from certain illnesses such as cancer, HIV and MS, to
automatically enjoy protection under the Act. Individuals who are disabled may bring
claims for discrimination, victimisation and a failure to make reasonable adjustments,
to an industrial tribunal.
An INTO Survey (2009) has shown that a majority of teachers with disability wish to
remain in work despite their disability. The survey form was circulated to 750
members from the Republic of Ireland and 180 from Northern Ireland at the end of
2008. The response rate was 43% and a total of 12 teachers of the 363 Republic of
Irelands respondents reported that they had a disability, (a rate of 3.3%) as did six
members from Northern Ireland. Respondents from Northern Ireland reported
having disabilities in much greater proportion but there was no clear reason for this
difference. In the majority of cases, the employer did not know about the disability
and the nature of disabilities reported varied widely from depression/anxiety to
hearing impairment, arthritic conditions and a range of injuries and illnesses. The
most commonly reported impact on teaching career was the need to take time off
work, a reluctance to seek promotion, limited choice of teaching duties and restrictions
on social interaction. All but two of the responding teachers had acquired their
disability in the course of their teaching career and 15 of these 18 respondents stated
that they wished to continue in teaching despite their disability while two were
uncertain and one did not respond to the question.
For the first time, the Occupational Health Service for teachers in the Republic of
Ireland, under the terms of Circular 0099/2008, has explicitly recognised that
reasonable accommodation provisions apply to teachers and to schools. How this
issue will develop over coming years and how disability can be accommodated in
employment terms in schools requires examination. INTO looks forward to the input
of teachers to this debate, including those INTO members who have undertaken the
ICTU “Disability Champions” course, North and South.
The Family and Marital/Civil Status
Discussion of the concept of a family and the contexts in which people live in
partnership and in which children are raised has also seen considerable change.
The Irish Constitution specifically recognises the family “as the natural, primary and
fundamental unit group of society” (article 41.1.1), and requires that State to protect
the family and “to guard with special care the institution of marriage on which the
family is founded” (article 41.3.1). It is clear that the family as recognised in the
Constitution is the family based on marriage of a man to a woman. While this is not
explicitly stated in the Constitution, it has been implicit in a range of court judgements
and is enshrined in law as, for example, in the ‘Civil Registration Act, 2004’.
A prohibition on the dissolution of marriage was included in the Irish Constitution of
1937. Only in a referendum in November 1995 was this prohibition deleted, thus
paving the way for divorce legislation in the ‘Family Law (Divorce) Act, 1996’.
The Constitution Review Group (1996) examined aspects of Bunreacht na hÉireann
and acknowledged that it had received “many submissions to the effect that Article 41
should be amended so as to recognise in the Constitution family units other than the
family based on marriage” (page 321). The Review Group, however, identified
significant difficulties in doing this. Its preferred option was to retain protection for
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the family based on marriage but in addition to guarantee to all individuals a right to
respect for their family life whether based on marriage or not.
The CSO in 2006 found that just under 12% of all family units in the State comprised nonmarital couples, approximately one-third of whom lived with one or more children.
Adding this to the almost 190,000 one-parent families (approximately 18% of all family
units) it has been observed that “the argument that marriage be privileged because of its
function in child-rearing is diminished to vanishing point” (Ryan 2008). More recently,
CSO figures show that 24,844 (33.1%) of births in the Republic of Ireland in 2008 were
outside marriage. This has risen from a proportion of 30.9% in 1999.
That the traditional view of the family is being challenged is clear with reference to
statistics on births to unmarried persons, in the growth of “blended” family arrangements,
and in the number of divorces which, based on CSO statistics, amounted to 3,630 in 2008
(when judicial separations and nullity applications granted by the courts in 2008 are
added to the number of divorces, almost 5,000 formal cases of marriage breakdown or
cessation occurred in 2008; there were 22,243 marriages in the same year). A Supreme
Court judgement of December 2009 has made clear that in law, notwithstanding the
variety of families visible in Irish society “there is no institution of a ‘de facto’ family”.
The Civil Partnership Bill 2009 proposes to amend the Employment Equality Act 1998 by
substituting the term “civil status” for “marital status”. The amended legislation would
provide protection against discrimination for persons who are single, married, separated,
divorced, widowed, in a registered civil partnership, or who have been in a registered civil
partnership which has been dissolved.
Just over 21 years ago, and reflecting changes becoming apparent at that time, the
Separated Teachers’ Support Group was formed by INTO members. This Group has
provided enormous support to teachers over that period of time and has raised a broad
range of issues for INTO related to the concerns of persons covered by one or more of the
aspects of marital or civil status as referred to above.
One further issue which has been raised with the Equality Committee in relation to
marital/civil status concerns the relatively heavy taxation of inheritances by single people
as compared to higher tax-free inheritance thresholds for married persons.
3.
Issues related to Inclusion in the Teaching Profession
All of the changes as referred to above indicate that the traditional “norms” of society are
being challenged in a number of ways and directions. The Equality Conference aims to
address questions arising out of those changes and which are of relevance in assessing
how inclusive our profession is.
The questions below are general in nature and are intended to stimulate debate and to
highlight some of the key issues at the Conference. They are allocated across three main
grounds as covered at the Conference.
(i)
Marital Status/Civil Status Ground
(a)
To what extent do you believe that separated, divorced, or single
teachers, or teachers living in non-marital relationships, (including
registered civil partners) feel recognised and included in the teaching
profession and in our staff rooms?
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(ii)
(iii)
(b)
How is the variety of marital and family situations acknowledged and
recognised in staffrooms, the teaching profession and the INTO; what
aspects of this issue need to be addressed?
(c)
To what extent is there equality in terms of conditions of employment
for teachers, regardless of their marital or civil status? What issues
remain to be tackled?
Disability Ground
(a)
To what extent do you believe that teachers with disability feel
recognised and included in the teaching profession and in our
staffrooms?
(b)
What steps are necessary to accommodate a teacher with physical or
mental disability in the workplace and in what circumstances (if any) is
a school justified in pleading an inability to accommodate?
(c)
What awareness-raising measures are required, (i) in the teaching
profession, (ii) in school management, and (iii) elsewhere, in relation to
the rights of persons with disability to be accommodated?
Sexual Orientation Ground
(a)
To what extent do you believe that lesbian, gay and bisexual teachers feel
recognised and included in the teaching profession and, in particular, in
our staffrooms?
(b)
Is there a point at which a denominational school might be entitled to
raise issues about his/her sexual orientation with a teacher? What
might give rise to such an entitlement, if any?
(c)
What are the benefits, (i) to the profession and (ii) to schools, of open
recognition of the diversity of sexual orientation?
REFERENCES
• Central Statistics Office (CSO): Vital Statistics Reports; 2006, and Yearly Summary
for 2008
• Ryan, Fergus: “The Heads of the Civil Partnership Bill and the Position of Children
being Parented by Same-Sex Couples”; paper presented to Children’s Rights
Alliance Conference, 23 September 2008
• Supreme Court: Judgement in ‘McD-v-L & anor’ delivered 10 December 2009 (see,
for example, judgement by Denham J at paragraph 78)
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