With more than half of Irish students never having sat a computer-based assessment before the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, students here received a “significantly and substantially” lower score on the use of digital technology in class compared to other countries.

Irish students remain among the best readers in the developed world, an assessment of almost 600,000 students has found.

Focus Ireland and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) have produced a new guidance resource for primary school teachers and principals who are supporting students and families who are homeless or at risk.

Parents who are asked to accept a shorter school day for their children with special needs should refuse to do so, the lead author of a new report has suggested.

This delay is undermining confidence in a resolution negotiated last April, the largest teaching union in Ireland has warned.

Almost one in five primary school children were in classes of 30 or more last year, with six schools recorded as having classrooms with 40 or more pupils.

Primary schools across the country are being forced to resort to fundraising to ensure basic costs can be covered, the primary teachers’ union has warned.

Class sizes need to be capped at no more than 20 students to ensure teachers and children are not “crowded out” of education.

So that’s Easter Monday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

A breakthrough in securing pay equality for new entrants to primary school teaching has been signalled by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) after a form of wording has been agreed with Government.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) president Joe Killeen has said his union will stand with its new members on securing pay equality, whether through “negotiation, court challenge or industrial action”.

The INTO continues to fight for equal pay and pension rights for all teachers and never ‘colluded’ with Government to cut new entrants’ pay, says Sheila Nunan.

The re-establishment of panels of primary teachers paid to be on standby to cover absences should go ahead to help alleviate a teacher supply crisis, Education Minister Joe McHugh has said.

More than 43,000 primary teachers are voting over the next month to elect the head of one of the country’s biggest unions.

A vote for industrial action in schools could leave more than 36,000 primary teachers thousands of euro out of pocket in pursuit of equal pay for equal work.

Nurses unions have not ruled out the possibility of industrial action after recommending its members reject the Government’s pay proposals.

The Government is likely to pass this week’s proposed pay restoration measures for teachers at next month’s budget with the possibility of school strikes looming large.

Schools must allow teachers paid breastfeeding breaks for up to two years after the birth of a child, under an 18-month extension agreed by the Departm

The possibility of a strike ballot by 70,000 teachers to push for restoration of pay equality remains a possibility ahead of next month’s budget.

Teachers could lose €6,000 over two years if they participate in industrial action, including strikes, in support of equal pay for newer entrants to the job.

The Government has been accused by teachers’ leaders of ‘fake news’ over suggestions that unions did not prioritise pay equality for newer entrants to the profession in last year’s pay talks.

Primary teachers are to have the case for equal pay for post-2010 members of the profession considered by the European Court of Justice.

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.

A war that will bring down the Government was promised by the leader of the country’s 35,000 primary teachers if they are unhappy with the outcome of imminent talks about lower-paid teachers.

More than 60,000 teachers could be asked to sanction strikes in the next school year if the Government does not resolve pay inequality within the procession within weeks.

The future of island schools should be supported with extra staff and funding to attract additional teachers and students, an Oireachtas committee recommends.

Education Minister Richard Bruton is under pressure to provide the extra staff to allow students to be offered alternative subjects, in place of religion, at hundreds of second-level schools.

The recruitment of teachers to cover substitution needs is expensive and ineffective, Richard Bruton says.

Future primary teachers are only taking on the role of religion teaching to get into jobs despite a lack of significant enthusiasm, new research suggests.

Irish children are the best in Europe at reading, thanks to major improvements among fourth-class pupils in the last five years.

Colleges are to be given deadlines to improve recruitment and promotion practices that do not support gender equality.

The absence of most second-level teachers from training around junior cycle reforms helped Education Minister Richard Bruton to save over €5m on teacher education last year.

Higher Leaving Certificate standards to get into teacher training degrees should not rule out huge numbers of students, a union has said.

There are calls for Ireland's teaching unions to form a united front to resolve the issue of pay equalisation.

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.

Workers who vote to reject the widely accepted new public sector pay deal may be frozen out of pay increases and other benefits and face financial penalties, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned.

Prospective teachers should be given financial support to cover travel and other costs of undertaking work placements to earn degrees, unions have claimed.

Junior education minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor is under fire from some of her ministerial colleagues, who have described her comments on teachers’ pay as “deeply unhelpful”.

Junior education minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor is under fire from some of her ministerial colleagues, who have described her comments on teachers’ pay as “deeply unhelpful”.

Teacher unions have welcomed the highlighting of unequal pay by Mary Mitchell O’Connor, even if her view is not supported by others at Cabinet.

Teachers have described as “a well-kept secret” a scheme that allows schools to obtain asthma inhalers for emergencies.

One of the country’s largest unions has voted to accept the new public service pay deal, but has warned that it expects discussions aimed at ending the two-tier pay scales currently imposed upon its members.

Impact, the largest public service union in the country, has recommended acceptance of the new public service pay agreement.

The union representing higher public servants has decided not to make a recommendation to members on the public sector pay deal.