The number of schools that require protective works prior to reopening after the midterm break has risen to 17, while question marks remain over a further 13.

Members of one of the country’s teaching unions are set to ignore a recent “ham-fisted” Department of Education demand to provide alternative arrangements for students who opt out of religious instruction.

Management in schools are failing to protect teachers from intimidation, inappropriate sexualised behaviour, and misogynistic attacks from problem students, unions have claimed.

The Government has been warned of a backlash at the ballot box by 70,000 teachers and their families if pay equality is not addressed in upcoming talks.

Teachers have warned of more protests as they ramped up their campaign for equal pay yesterday.

One in four teachers working for education and training boards (ETBs) are on the lowest pay scales, because their careers have only begun since 2011.

Latest: The executive council of the Teacher’s Union of Ireland has said it will meet this evening to discuss the agreement.

A 1% levy on corporate profits could secure most of the €600m needed to bridge third-level funding gaps, a teachers’ union claims.

Thousands have been paid out to ministers who failed to get re-elected, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Career pay differentials of up to €300,000 between older and younger teachers look set to be another headache for the next government.

Newly employed teachers are being treated like “galley slaves” and will earn around €300,000 less over a 40-year career than current senior colleagues, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) conference has been told.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland has called for a 1% levy on corporate profits in order to generate additional funding for a resource-starved higher-education sector.

Market-driven approaches to increasing income with more students and research are being used by colleges, but contributing to lower education standards, academics have claimed.

Teachers should not be expected to provide further extra work in return for any restoration of pay cuts of recent years, delegates at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland congress told their officials.

Extra hours, preparing classes, and student corrections are among the heaviest duties for second-level teachers, who have almost all seen their workload increase significantly in five years, a survey suggests.

Teachers should be allowed give their views on the final junior cycle reform plans instead of their union leaders vetoing them, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has said.

Hopes of a breakthrough in the teachers’ dispute with the Government over junior cycle reform look slim, despite fresh talks planned next week.

World Teachers’ Day has just passed and to mark the occasion we, the leaders of all the teachers’ and lecturers’ unions in Ireland and Great Britain would like to pose three questions:

Irish teachers are among the best paid but work longer hours and with some of the biggest classes in the developed world in return.

Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan has held a "constructive" meeting with secondary teachers' unions to hear their concerns about Junior Cycle reforms.

The possible withdrawal from teaching of English in their row with Education Minister Ruairi Quinn over the replacement of the Junior Certificate may be put to ASTI members in the autumn.

A “gangland culture” in some deprived areas is resulting in teachers being stabbed, headbutted, hit with chairs, knocked unconscious, hospitalised for broken limbs, and assaulted even while pregnant by pupils as young as 14.

Simmering tensions between Education Minister Ruairi Quinn and a leading teachers’ union over plans to radically reform the junior cycle appear to have cooled after both parties indicated a willingness to “sit down and make this work”.

Some teachers may be forced to work to a 12-month year schedule as part of plans to overhaul the further education system.

A union representing 16,000 second-level teachers and Institute of Technology lecturers has warned Government to expect a ballot box backlash next month as a direct result of the “misery” that has been inflicted on the sector.

A merger of two of the country’s second-level teaching unions appears to have moved a step closer, after the leaders of both groups said the current separation was “absurd and certainly wasteful” and one voted in favour of entering talks on the deal.

Young teachers are being forced to take up second jobs at night because cuts to their school hours mean they are not paid enough to survive.

The Teachers Union of Ireland General Secretary John MacGabhann has said it is time to seriously consider merging with the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland.

Institutes of technology could face industrial action by academic staff if they fail to consult them or try to change their conditions in any mergers to form technological universities (TUs), a union has warned.

The Minister for Education has revealed details this morning of a new grading system for the Leaving Certificate that could be place in three years' time.

School managers have rejected claims that they are unable or unwilling to deal with intimidating and violent student behaviour.

Violence, intimidation, and verbal abuse by students are on the rise and risk getting worse because of cuts to guidance and other roles, a teachers’ union has warned.

Teachers say their industrial action against Junior Certificate reform will not impact on classes when it begins this morning.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s plans to abolish the Junior Certificate are in disarray after teachers voted strongly to end all co-operation with the reforms.

Ballots for industrial action by the country’s 27,000 second-level teachers over the new junior cycle are to take place next month.

Priests have accused Education Minister Ruairi Quinn of trying to run religion out of schools with his suggestion that teachers cut religion classes to give more time to maths and reading.

In spite of the Department of Education’s decision to extend the timeframe for adding subjects to the new junior cycle, teachers are to be balloted for non-co-operation as they say many of their concerns have still not been addressed.

An official watchdog is being handed ramped up powers to deal with teachers who are underperforming or found guilty of misconduct.

Ireland has one of the EU’s highest rates of lowly- educated adults whose parents were also poorly schooled.

A return to top rankings in reading and maths should not lead to complacency over school reforms, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said.

Hundreds of secondary schools could be closed by strikes in a matter of weeks after one of the country’s largest teaching unions voted in favour of industrial action over cuts under government legislation.

The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) has voted to accept the Haddington Road Agreement by a majority of 54% to 46%, on a turnout of 65%.

Teacher unions and others that remain opposed to €300m public sector pay cut proposals will be subjected to laws cutting higher salaries and other work changes, Enda Kenny said yesterday.