Parents are to be targeted in a campaign to explain teacher’s educational concerns about Ruairi Quinn’s plans to replace the Junior Certificate with a new system of school-based assessment.

A row between teachers and Ruairi Quinn over the education minister’s abolition of the Junior Certificate looks set to deepen after he accused their unions of lacking trust in their professionalism.

The loud negative reaction of secondary teachers to his remarks on junior cycle reform was described last night by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn as part and parcel of democracy.

The details of how standards can be maintained in the system proposed to replace the Junior Certificate are being examined in talks to try resolving a dispute with teachers, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn told the Dáil.

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.

A group of Dublin students getting ready for the Junior Certificate in June could see thousands of teenagers answering exam questions about their own novel in a few years.

A row over plans to replace the Junior Certificate has deepened as Education Minister Ruairi Quinn accused teachers of seeking to keep a system that puts teenagers under unacceptable pressure.