Category Archives: Uncategorized

Education Course for March/April 2022

Education course for ELT branch members starting this Saturday 26th March. It has been designed for our branch and will include what a union is and does, the role of the workplace rep and how to organise in the workplace, what employment rights there are and the structures of Unite. The course takes place on three consecutive Saturdays that is – Saturday 26thMarch, the 2nd of April and the 9th of April from 10am to 12.30 pm. If you are interested please contact Colette Godkin whose email address can be found with the notification emails sent to members every month.

Socially-Distanced Protest Against Unsafe ELE School Reopenings

Unite English Language Teachers to protest the early and unsafe re-opening of the English Language Education sector.

When: Monday, July 19th 1pm

Where: Department of Further and Higher Education, Malborough Street, Dublin 1

Unite’s English Language Teachers’ branch last night [July 14th] voted to call a march of teachers and students to protest the Department’s plans to re-open English language schools on Monday July 19th – with less than one week’s notice to students and teachers.

Richie Browne, Regional Coordinating Officer for Unite explained the concerns of his union’s membership among English language teachers:

“Our members employed in the English-language teaching sector have numerous concerns about this decision by the Department; one of the main ones being that most teachers and their students are in younger age groups and are still unvaccinated. These concerns were raised with the government’s working group, of which Unite English Language Teachers’ branch is a member, but they don’t appear to have been taken into account in any way. “The decision of the Department’s COVID-19 Working Group to suddenly reopen the English Language Education industry will give free rein to the predominant, large school owners whose response during Covid was completely inadequate. They sought to write ‘self-regulating’ codes and ignored calls for sick pay, elected staff representation, and safe external reporting mechanisms for non-compliance with safety protocols”, Mr Browne said.

Unite is asking teachers and supporters to assemble at the Spire at 12:30 and march to the Department of Education. The timing of the protest march is set to coincide with the day when the Department is permitting school owners to re-open Ireland’s English Language Education sector for face-to-face classes.

Read on the Unite Website

If you cannot attend the protest, please consider signing the petition, found here.

The third annual Stephen Cullen Memorial Lecture to take place via Zoom featuring keynote speakers Hugh Dellar and Naoise Dolan with live music from Niamh Parsons.

On Tuesday, October 27th, 2020, at 7pm Irish time, the ELT Branch will present the third annual ‘Stephen Cullen Memorial Lecture’ via Zoom. We are delighted to announce some very special guests for this years event. One of ELT’s most renowned and respected teacher trainers and authors, Hugh Dellar, will be speaking and answering questions. He will be joined by former teacher turned novelist, Naoise Dolan. Her debut novel, ‘Exciting Times’ has been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Irish sea and we will hopefully get an insight into her inspiration for the main character’s struggles in the realms of the ELT industry.

Accompanying them ( …and us!) is internationally acclaimed Irish folk singer, Niamh Parsons, to add touches of particularly distinctive vocal class to this year’s proceedings. There will be several spot prizes to be won on the night as well.

Attendance is only possible by invitation which all members will receive this week, beginning October, 20th. Only those who RSVP will have access to this years event. Please contact us via email for enquiries. We hope you will join us for what promises to be and exciting and engaging evening as the world of ELT comes to terms with the turmoil of 2020 and beyond. Don’t forget to RSVP for the ZOOM link! We are very much looking forward to seeing and hearing from you on this very special occassion. Until then…