BY MICHAEL DEVLIN

A STRABANE teacher has challenged a scheme which rewards graduates when they take up new teaching posts in England because it discriminates against people from the Six Counties.

Speaking at the NASUWT annual conference in Belfast, Grainne McCay directed her question (as to why this happens) towards education secretary Alan Johnston who now admits that he will review the current system.

Termed the 'golden hellos', up to £5,000 is paid to newly qualified teachers who accept positions in subjects where there are a shortage of teachers, including ICT, maths and science. However this scheme is not applied to graduates from the North who seek jobs in England.

Grainne McCay, who teaches ICT in Kent in England said it is unfair that teachers who qualified in the North are being denied the same payments. She said, "If I had qualified as a teacher in Poland, I would have received the money.

"Everywhere in the European Union gets this money apart from new teachers in Northern Ireland. This is discrimination against teachers from the North."

After graduating from Queens University in 2005 Grainne was forced to look to England for a job as there were none available at home. She continued, "I had had to take out loans to do my post-grad so I expected that this 'golden hello' would go some way to paying those off. But when I went to find out about it, I was simply told 'no'. I felt this had to be challenged."

Referring to her questioning the education minister, Grainne added, "He wasn't able to give me a clear answer but he did say that he would review the situation. My union is definitely going to push the issue but there is no guarantee that I will eventually get the extra funds.

"If those people coming behind me get the money, then it'll have been worth it."

Responding to Grainne's question, education minister Alan Johnston said, "I'll have a look at this because I can see the perceived injustice in it."

"Everywhere in the European Union gets this money apart from new teachers in Northern Ireland. This is discrimination against teachers from the North." – Grainne McCay