Further strikes or mass demonstrations at the Department of Education could be staged in the next school year if the junior cycle row remains un-resolved, a union leader has warned.

New assessment methods for junior cert students are to be covered in training which Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan plans to take place next month despite an ongoing union ban on 27,000 teachers attending.

Up to 6,000 special needs assistants represented by the Impact trade union have balloted in favour of industrial action up to strike, over what Impact says is a reduction in working hours and fragmentation of SNA posts.

A request by teacher unions to have training on the new junior cycle suspended has been rejected by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan.

Around 700 teachers will have been trained this term for changes to the Junior Certificate despite ongoing industrial action by two unions over the reforms.

The Department of Education could spend €1m in the next year on designing training that teachers are refusing to attend, in an industrial dispute over junior cycle reform.