The impact of teachers’ rejection of a settlement deal on pay and the junior cycle dispute will not be known for almost another week.

High-speed internet, training for teachers and accessible technical support will be key features of a government plan to make technology more a part of daily classroom activity.

Students have been advised to consider all their options as they reflect on their Leaving Certificate results today.

Further talks between teacher unions and the Department of Education over the next five weeks will be key to the chances of a positive outcome on changes to junior cycle education.

Parents are now providing over 30% of funding in voluntary contributions to help run secondary schools.

Asylum-seeker students may soon get a chance at a third-level education that financial barriers have previously blocked most from receiving, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has said.

Traveller rights group Pavee Point has said another generation of Traveller children could be condemned to “poverty, unemployment and social exclusion” because of school enrolment policies.

The teachers’ strike, which will cause disruption to hundreds of thousands of students and parents today, looks set to spill into next year with the Government and unions entrenched.

Bodies representing school boards and principals believe the junior cycle reform offer to unions should be enough for them to call off strikes that threaten to close 730 schools from December 2.

Moves to improve job security for teachers could end up limiting second-level students’ subject choices, a school management leader has warned.

All three groups representing second-level schools say they support delays to some assessment by teachers of their junior cycle students — to help resolve an ongoing dispute.

The resolution to a dispute with teachers about junior cycle reforms lies in ensuring the way teachers assess their students is the same in all schools, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan believes.

Students can be assessed by their own teachers in a replacement of the Junior Certificate in a way that is fair and leads to improved learning, the country’s chief schools inspector says.

Parents have been told to use their power to persuade schools not to restrict the sale of uniforms to just one shop after the Competition Authority forced a manufacturer to supply a second retailer with one school’s uniform.

A new appeal system for children refused school enrolment is still planned, but Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is to consider concerns raised about his idea to restrict it within schools.

School managers have told Education Minister Ruairí Quinn his plan to replace the Junior Certificate will fail if he does not give schools the time and staffing supports to implement it.

Opposition to the handover of Catholic schools to new patrons often comes as much from politicians as from parents, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has claimed.

Two teachers’ unions are to ballot members on withdrawal of co-operation with proposed Junior Certificate reforms.

The danger of students at over 500 second-level schools being told to stay at home from mid-January has been averted after the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland voted to accept the Haddington Road Agreement.

Hundreds of schools set to be hit with industrial action by teachers have been told they should postpone meetings already rescheduled as a result so the impact on students can be reduced.

Staff cuts in secondary schools are increasing the risk of bullying in the classroom, it was claimed today.

Secondary schools face an administrative headache in the wake of the rejection of the Haddington Road deal by teachers’ union ASTI — but pupils are not expected to be directly affected.

The replacement of the Junior Certificate by schools assessing their own students will bring major benefits, says the head of the organisation leading the changes.

Fee-charging schools have warned that further cuts to their funding in next month’s budget will cost the taxpayer money.

The country's fee-charging schools have said 1,500 jobs will be lost if they are targetted for more cuts in next month's Budget.

Schools must be given the necessary resources to accommodate the needs of all pupils if planned enrolment regulations are introduced, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has been told.

The problem of schools having more children seeking enrolment than it has staff or space to teach is a strong sign of the value that Irish families place on good education.

A look behind the shroud and spin in Ruairi Quinn’s statements, those of the NCSE, and of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore’s pontificating in the Dáil last week on the special needs education cuts casts some light on what happens inside the Department of Education.

The Department of Education’s decision that schools not be told until this week of cuts to extra teaching for children with special needs, has been criticised by education figures.

Secondary schools fear that from November, students may lose out on subjects because of legal stipulations that only qualified teachers may take classes.

The planned overhaul of the Junior Certificate is doomed to failure without the proper time, training, teachers, and technology for schools, boards of management claim.

Plans to give legal backing to new rules on enrolment will impose unnecessary restrictions on the majority of secondary schools, management representatives have warned Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

Students are losing out, personally and educationally, because frontline services in schools have not been protected, as claimed by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, it has been claimed.

“Creative solutions will have to be found” if school enrolment fees are to be outlawed, school management bodies have warned.

Protestant schools are unlikely to get a waiver from future budget cuts to the fee-paying sector on foot of Department of Education analysis of their funding.

Listening to minister of state Kathleen Lynch on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday or Enda Kenny in the Dáil on Wednesday, you would think cutting counselling supports in schools had been a blessing.

Any more cuts to teacher numbers will leave second- level schools unable to provide the 28 hours of weekly classes all students must receive, management has warned.

The Data Protection Commissioner is investigating the alleged ability of non-staff to access schools software and view confidential student information because of shared login codes.

Confidential information on thousands of students could have been breached after a teenager revealed that a software programme used by schools had a shared login.

Government funding cuts, inability to reclaim Vat and restrictions on bulk buying force schools to rely more on parents to stay open, school managers have said.

The continued €95m-a- year government funding of fee-paying schools will not be decided until the budget, according to Education Minister Ruairí Quinn.