A “gangland culture” in some deprived areas is resulting in teachers being stabbed, headbutted, hit with chairs, knocked unconscious, hospitalised for broken limbs, and assaulted even while pregnant by pupils as young as 14.

Simmering tensions between Education Minister Ruairi Quinn and a leading teachers’ union over plans to radically reform the junior cycle appear to have cooled after both parties indicated a willingness to “sit down and make this work”.