Students have been urged to ignore speculation about the exams, particularly on social media, and stay focused on their studies as schools look set to remain closed.

Hundreds of schools nationwide are to remain shut today as almost 20,000 educators strike over what they describe as an ongoing failure to eliminate pay discrimination within the teaching profession.

Thousands of teachers and lecturers have vowed to ramp up their campaign of industrial action in a bid to end “pay discrimination”, warning there will be no ‘honeymoon period’ for the next government.

With more than half of Irish students never having sat a computer-based assessment before the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, students here received a “significantly and substantially” lower score on the use of digital technology in class compared to other countries.

I thought they were just mothers at the school gate. Friendly. Helpful with the children.

More than two-thirds of teachers struggle to make ends meet.

It is not surprising that the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has taken a strong position on the two-tier pay scale.

Two largest unions opposed to Government pay gap proposals

A vote for industrial action in schools could leave more than 36,000 primary teachers thousands of euro out of pocket in pursuit of equal pay for equal work.

Nurses unions have not ruled out the possibility of industrial action after recommending its members reject the Government’s pay proposals.

The Government is likely to pass this week’s proposed pay restoration measures for teachers at next month’s budget with the possibility of school strikes looming large.

Schools must allow teachers paid breastfeeding breaks for up to two years after the birth of a child, under an 18-month extension agreed by the Departm

The possibility of a strike ballot by 70,000 teachers to push for restoration of pay equality remains a possibility ahead of next month’s budget.

Teacher unions will be consulted by a steering group examining ways to deal with the problems schools face in recruiting teachers, the Department of Education has promised.

Leaving Certificate 2018 ended much as it started, with warm weather and a fairly good reception for the day’s papers.

The divisiveness of Trump’s America First policy and the centenary of parliamentary voting rights for some women featured in the first Leaving Certificate politics and society exams.

Almost 8,000 Leaving Certificate agricultural science students took yesterday morning’s papers, which Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesman Peter Keaney thought were very manageable.

There were examinations of technical and vocational skills in both of yesterday’s set of Junior Certificate exams.

Some difficult comprehension passages opened the second higher-level Leaving Certificate Irish paper yesterday morning.

Maths and science kicked off the second week of Junior Certificate exams yesterday.

There were mixed assessments of yesterday’s second Leaving Certificate higher level maths paper.

It was a full day of Irish for around half the 55,000 Junior Certificate students taking the subject at higher level yesterday.

Making religion an optional subject for students at hundreds of second-level schools has forced trainee teachers to look for work abroad, an educationalist has warned.

Teachers could lose €6,000 over two years if they participate in industrial action, including strikes, in support of equal pay for newer entrants to the job.

The loss of hundreds of members to a rival union has forced the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) into a campaign to try and win them back.

A second-level student in Dublin told his pregnant teacher he would “kick the baby out of her” — and was allowed return to class the next day.