Despite concerns about the introduction of History as a mandatory subject for the Junior Cert, the Minister for Education says he is “confident” that the subject will be integrated well into the reformed curriculum.

Changes to the Leaving Certificate cycle should not be made in the near future due to deteriorating” working conditions for teachers, uncertainty around Junior Cycle reform, and general underfunding of education.

After a review found many students would like to see Irish dropped as a Leaving Cert subject, Conradh na Gaeilge has warned the introduction of a policy promoting the education of the subject is urgently needed.

Two secondary school teachers have launched High Court challenges against a decision to redeploy them.

Teachers have told the Education Minister they are prepared to take industrial action, which could include strikes, if changes to the Leaving Cert curriculum are railroaded through without consultation.

Worthy further education reforms may be unrealistic without extra funding, writes Education Correspondent Niall Murray.

Update - 2.55pm:A man has died in Cahir, Co Tipperary while attempting to move debris brought down by Hurricane Ophelia.

The Minister for Education has refused to be drawn on when teachers should be put on equal pay scales.

How healthy is it to use our national school system to preserve the cohesion of a faith community, asks Victoria White.

Update 1.55pm: The head of the largest union for secondary teachers says the Education Minister’s plan to reduce school costs for parents, is tinkering at the edges.

Education Minister Richard Bruton’s plans to speed up the divestment of religious primary schools to new patrons face strong challenge as a multi-denominational schools group claims they prioritise the Catholic Church’s wishes over those of parents.

Four options have been unveiled by the Education Minister to tackle the so-called baptism barrier which allows publicly funded schools to refuse places to children based on religion.

The Department of Education tried to downplay the significance of another dramatic fall in the international rankings of Ireland’s top universities.

The president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) says we have failed to achieve Padraig Pearse’s education vision for Ireland.

WITH teachers and Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan engaged in a fruitless war of words, worried parents and the country’s leading business organisation, Ibec, are understandably concerned about the long-term impact of this festering dispute on pupils and the whole education system.

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.

Comedian Brendan O’Carroll, who was recently named ‘philanthropist of the year,’ said that “schooling should be free”. 

More than 10,000 panic-stricken Cameroonians are fleeing border regions with Nigeria’s Borno state for safer locations after attacks by Nigeria’s Islamic militant group Boko Haram, government officials said.

Irish soccer manager Martin O’Neill speculated what might have been had he taken his mother’s advice and stuck to legal studies at Queens University in Belfast, rather than follow his dream to become a professional soccer player.

It isn’t every day that Trinity College students get the pleasure of seeing their professor endure a head to toe drenching but, then, Orla Hardiman is not your everyday academic.

Ruairi Quinn railed against Church patrons and inequality in education. But his follow-through often seemed ineffective as he got tangled up in his desire to appear ‘responsible’, writes Conor Ryan

Primary school teachers have demanded a reduction in the number of pupils in Irish classrooms, which are the second largest in the EU.

It is hard to imagine that Ireland was once the university of Europe, an island of learning and classical scholarship that outshone anything the continent had to offer.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has fiercely defended the Education Minister amid warnings that teachers threatening industrial action could be in danger of compulsory redundancies.

At least 20 children have died and more are sick after eating free meals at a primary school in eastern India.

Schools in England are losing their sense of humour under piles of data and spreadsheets as headteachers are forced to “wrestle with an octopus” of government initiatives and reforms, a union leader will warn today.

The Education Minister has invited applications for the patronage of eight new post-primary schools.

County Cork VEC spent almost €50,000 responding to reports that it had lost more than €100,000 due to mismanagement at a Youthreach centre.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is being warned to expect a frosty reception when he addresses the Irish National Teachers Organisation's annual conference in Cork this morning.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is said to be considering naming and shaming schools that insist on hiring retired teachers.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has expressed concerns about the Leaving Cert exam.

Almost 54,500 people have already entered the race for college places this autumn up to last Friday’s early Central Applications Office (CAO) deadline.

THE sound of feet on the street is reassuring, particularly at a time when democracy is blowing in the wind like a fragile flower.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is denying claims teacher numbers will be cut and third-level students will be capped in the forthcoming Budget.

THE current Leaving Cert system has many flaws but I agree with Micheál Ó Fearghail (Letters, August 20) that repeating the experience of other countries, which proved the failure of continuous assessment, is not the way to go.

Schoolchildren are to be banned from studying any more than eight subjects at junior certificate level under plans to boost reading and writing skills.

THE St Vincent de Paul is to meet with the Minister for Education in the coming weeks to try and convince him to help families who are struggling to cope with the cost of schoolbooks which it has branded “crazy and unnecessary”.

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn today announced that a single student grant awarding authority is to replace the existing 66 bodies.

The founder of one of the country's leading universities has said there may be some merit in giving recognition to those who fail Leaving Cert honours maths.

An emergency motion calling on national school teachers to reject the public sector pay and reform deal has been narrowly defeated.

PLANS for Ireland’s first Science Innovation and Technology Park at Curraheen, Cork, have taken a further step forward with the appointment of an high powered advisory board.

ALMOST-invisible sensors being developed by Irish researchers could speed up the availability of lifesaving drugs and dramatically reduce the need for animal testing of cosmetics.

THE 18 religious orders responsible for the worst abuses of children in residential institutions have been given two weeks to divulge the full extent of their wealth.

THE man who negotiated the controversial compensation deal for abuse victims said he stands by the agreement, as senior Church figures stand firm against plans to increase the amount of money it has to pay out.

A TURF war has broken out between Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe and a Labour councillor over the funding for a school.

ABUSE victim Louise O’Keeffe said she was “overjoyed” after the Supreme Court ruled she did not have to pay €750,000 in costs for her unsuccessful case against the state for the sexual abuse she suffered as a primary school pupil.