Teachers Unions Divided On Junior Cycle Reforms

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has voted to reject the latest Junior Cycle proposals, while the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has accepted the proposals.

ASTI president Máire G. Ní Chiarba said that, while the latest proposals address a number of significant issues, in an era of education cuts, diminished resources for students and increased teacher workload, teachers do not have faith in the Government.

"Second-level schools and teachers are delivering much more with far less. In this context teachers do not trust the Government to adequately resource and support schools as they implement the significant changes required by the Junior Cycle proposals," Ms Ní Chiarba said.

ASTI, which represents 18,000 teachers, will now engage with its members in order to consider how best to pursue the outstanding concerns of teachers.

However, TUI members voted in favour of acceptance of the negotiated document by a margin of 69% to 31% on a turnout of 60%.

TUI President, Gerry Quinn said: "The negotiated document provides for reinstatement of a fully externally assessed, state certified Junior Certficate examination and professional time is provided for teachers. Therefore, our key objectives were attained.

"We approached the negotiations seeking to improve second level education while protecting teachers from exploitation, and TUI members have decided in a ballot that these key, complementary concerns have been appropriately addressed.

"Our principled position has been protected. The document explicitly acknowledges that significant change must be appropriately resourced from the start."

(MH/CD)