ELT Advocacy is a voluntary group set up by teachers to advocate for the rights of English language teachers to decent working conditions. We are not a professional development association. We believe that workers must have secure employment, decent pay and proper working conditions before concentrating on professional development. As the situation stands currently, teachers are not treated as professionals by language schools in Ireland. We believe that the way to accomplish these aims is by being a member of a union and taking collective action.
In line with the Ten Point Charter published by UNITE the Union, we agree that these steps must be urgently accomplished to professionalise the English language teaching industry to make it work for teachers. This charter is listed below:
- Permanent employment contracts for ELTs as standard
- Legal, written statement of terms and conditions as standard
- An end to the use of zero-hours contracts and bogus self-employment
- Recognition and pay for non-contact hours
- Entitlement to holiday and sick pay
- Full entitlements to all leave as guaranteed under employment legislation
- Equality of pay and opportunity for non-native speaking teachers
- Full support from school for paid continuing professional development
- Union recognition and representation rights across all schools
- Standardised salary scales across the sector through the application of a Sectoral Employment Order
ELT Advocacy believes all teachers should be a member of a union. The union with the biggest number of English language teachers is Unite. To join, click here.
This blog has been set up to record the history of ELT in Ireland as told by the teachers. To this end, we welcome all types of contributions. Our email address is: eltadvocacy@gmail.com. If you are interested in volunteering with ELT Advocacy, or you would like to know more about what we do, send us an email or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
ELT Advocacy Ireland 