Joe Leogue reports from the Teachers’ Union of Ireland annual congress where equal pay for equal work was called for “as a matter of justice”.

Emily Dickinson, TS Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, and Paul Durcan were the poets examined in a higher-level Leaving Certificate English paper lasting over three hours.

Newly employed teachers are being treated like “galley slaves” and will earn around €300,000 less over a 40-year career than current senior colleagues, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) conference has been told.

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

There were very good choices on yesterday’s Leaving Certificate agricultural science higher-level exam, according to Pat Curtin.

Mairead Glynn of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland said yesterday’s higher-level Junior Certificate music exam was very fair.

The exams set for Leaving Cert economics students included many references to current affairs and topical issues, like Irish Water, mortgage lending restrictions and rent controls.

Fears that upskilling courses could be privatised and ‘dumbed down’ as a cash-saving measure have prompted a threat of industrial action by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland.

Tens of thousands of teachers have been left underpaid, some by hundreds of euro, for the last month as IT problems have delayed salary increases due from the Department of Education.

The third week of Leaving Certificate exams kicked off with papers for students of physics and accounting.

A union representing 16,000 second-level teachers and Institute of Technology lecturers has warned Government to expect a ballot box backlash next month as a direct result of the “misery” that has been inflicted on the sector.

Cutbacks in staff may have caused a significant drop in numbers taking up the Leaving Certificate Applied this year, teachers say.

About 8,400 students sat the Leaving Certificate chemistry papers yesterday.

The teachers of the country got some bad press over their rowdy behaviour — and their red cards — to Ruairi Quinn this week.

A second day of anger lies ahead for Education Minister Ruairi Quinn from teachers already planning withdrawal of some work practices over the Croke Park II pay proposals.

Ireland’s teachers are among the world’s best paid, even after factoring in the first round of public service pay cuts two years ago.

Nearly half of all Junior Certificate students took higher-level maths this year and changes to the marking scheme have prompted another rise in numbers attempting higher Irish.

There are mixed patterns in subject uptake and performance by students in the 2012 Leaving Cert.

Teachers have vowed to oppose legal changes which they say could send them to jail if they challenge a school inspector.

The points for college courses in science, technology and agriculture have increased dramatically this year.

WHEN Pádraig Harrington added the 2008 US PGA Championship to the British Opens of ‘07 and ‘08 many felt a wonderful era for Irish golf had reached its zenith.

LEAVING CERT students sat their second Irish exams yesterday, and the papers were perceived positively by teacher representatives.

COLLEGE lecturers will only introduce reforms if changes being discussed with the Department of Education are acceptable to them, a union leader has said.

IRELAND’S failure to increase its spend on education, in line with the wealth generated by the Celtic Tiger, has raised strong criticism.

PUBLIC sector unions have said social partnership is dead and told their members to prepare themselves for strikes.

SECOND-level teachers and managers have rejected Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s assertion that only 240 teaching posts will be lost in their schools this autumn after provisional figures showed 3,600 fewer jobs.

MANY questions on yesterday’s ordinary level Leaving Certificate chemistry paper were very difficult in the opinion of one teacher.

LEAVING Certificate students have committed their Irish books to the bottom drawer but many were angry and upset about the appearance of the same six questions as last year on a section of the second higher level paper yesterday morning.

MORE than a quarter of teachers in post-primary, higher and further education have said they were aware of racist incidents over a one-month period, a pioneering Teacher’s Union of Ireland survey has found.

THIRD-level college bosses have warned of further reductions in student services after the sector was hit by another €20 million cut in the supplementary budget.

A SPOKESMAN for the 477 workers who are to lose their jobs at the Banta RR Donnelly plant in Limerick said yesterday they were “pretty happy” with the redundancy package offered.

THE 2008 Leaving Certificate began with a morning of English exams for more than 50,000 students, but most had a free afternoon to prepare for today’s second paper in the subject.

THE Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) views the recent report of the public service benchmarking body with extreme disappointment.

THE bulk of the small spending increase in education will be set aside to provide space for the rising pupil numbers in primary schools.

THE popularity of YouTube, Bebo and Facebook has been harnessed by one Irish college to market its third-level courses.

SECOND-LEVEL teachers have backed their primary counterparts in opposing the publication of school inspection reports, but stopped short of backing their plans to ban co-operation with Department of Education inspectors.

EFFORTS to improve and modernise the country’s 4,000 schools will benefit from a €0.5 billion building package unveiled by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.

The Teachers Union of Ireland's conference in Dublin today heard that unchecked bad behaviour of students is taking its toll on both teachers' wellbeing and the quality of education in classrooms.

THERE was uncertainty last night whether or not Education Minister Noel Dempsey will attend the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) annual congress in Galway next month.

THE two teacher unions which took part in the benchmarking process have lashed out at business leaders for trying to interfere with the payment of awards.