A MID-TERM review of the Department of Education’s 2011-2020 literacy and numeracy strategy for schools has found that raise-the-bar targets set some years ago have been met or surpassed far more quickly than even the most optimistic predictions suggested. 

The country’s 33,000 primary school teachers are to be balloted for industrial action this week over what their union claimed was the Department of Education’s ban on work promotions in schools and an increased workload.