In 2009, the ASTI celebrated the 100th Anniversary of its foundation. Founding members included such national figures as Eamon de Valera and Thomas MacDonagh, both of who served as second-level teachers. The ASTI has rich history in representing the teaching profession and in promoting second-level education and has been a dynamic force in the education sector in Ireland. The ASTI is the largest second-level teachers’ union in Ireland with 17,500 members teaching in over 75% of second-level schools.

Unlikely Radicals provides a social and historical account of the ASTI’s role in the development of second-level education and the teaching profession in Ireland. It demonstrates the remarkable contribution which second-level education has made to the lives of millions of young people and to social, political and economic progress in Ireland. It details the development of a trade union which has had a significant impact on social and education policy and which has continued to represent the values of Irish teachers and their aspirations for those they teach.

Contents

The secondary teacher’s life, c.1909
Foundation and early years of the ASTI
The ASTI in the Burke era, c.1920-1937
The association in the 1940s and 1950s
Secondary teachers, educational change, and Irish society in the 1960s
Teacher militancy, c.1961-71
The ASTI expansion and development, c.1970-c.1990
Teachers’ unity and resistance to cutbacks in the 1980s
Equality and women’s issues, c.1970-1995
Secondary teachers in the Celtic Tiger era
The pay battle of the new millennium.

John Cunningham is attached to the Department of History, NUI Galway.

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