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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Students and parents’ organisations have welcomed the planned overhaul of the Junior Certificates that will move the emphasis away from the final exam.

Changes to the curriculum and increasing availability of ebooks are making secondary schools reluctant to start book rental schemes.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn wants schools to stop insisting on expensive uniforms that are adding huge burdens to struggling families, but says he does not have the power to make them change their policies.

Up to 722 people unqualified to teach worked in primary schools for at least a week in the past school year, despite efforts to ensure unemployed teachers are given work.

Teaching unions and parents’ groups have hit out at a 5% cut in resource teaching hours.

An organisation representing Catholic secondary schools said pregnancy should never be a factor when considering whether to enrol a student.

Schools will have trouble having some subjects taught if strict rules are enforced that only qualified teachers can be employed, TDs and senators have been told.

SCHOOLS fear cuts to career guidance and counselling, which may be forced on them by Budget 2012, will put them at risk of legal action from parents.

SCHOOLS will lose almost 1,000 teachers through cuts which include an effective rise in second-level pupil teacher ratios (PTR) that could threaten vital guidance provision for students.

ONE-THIRD of people teaching maths at second level schools are not fully qualified to do so, but schools fear the situation could get worse instead of improving.

SUPPORT systems for students will be further hit as a result of a looming schools management crisis caused by a raft of early retirements, second-level managers have warned.

PRIMARY principals claim they cannot find qualified substitute teachers at short notice despite the unemployment crisis facing recent teaching graduates.

PUPILS with special needs are to lose 10% of the resource teaching they need under the latest education cutbacks imposed because of EU/IMF staffing limits.

PARENTS could be left with no choice of a Catholic secondary school in parts of the country within 20 years because they face near-elimination by other education models, a school management leader has warned.

WHILE many households are now receiving normal water supply, it could be up to two weeks before a number of areas will see their full supplies restored.

SOME schools could be forced to close after the latest cut to their day-to-day funding by 5% next year, a management group has warned.

JUST over 60 vacant school management posts – fewer than one-in-20 – have been filled under a scheme designed to ease pressure on the running of second-level schools.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Coughlan has said she has no plans to issue guidelines or direct schools to make uniforms less expensive despite the pressures on some families to meet the costs.

SCHOOLS could be left short of teachers in essential subjects because of an employment law guaranteeing permanency, after four years for contracted staff.

SCHOOLS need to constantly update their own behaviour rules to discourage and punish bullying, but are wary of over-regulation by Government on the issue, a second-level schools organisation said.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan was accused of insulting principals last night after telling them they were lucky their jobs will continue to be filled when they retire while other management posts are left vacant.

SCHOOLS are not fully assessing risks of accidents for staff or students and fail to report all incidents, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) believes.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan faces pressure from angry school managers today to explain how she will ease restrictions on promotions that are restricting services for students and overloading principals with extra work.

ALMOST 1,500 schools have been approved to have crucial repairs carried out during the summer holidays, it has been announced.

SCHOOLS will have to foot the bills for teacher absences where staff are unable to return for classes which are resuming earlier than expected this week, according to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

A KERRY school community is fuming no progress has been made on its new building project for more than two-and-a-half years while €112 million of school construction cash is unspent this year.

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.

ALMOST 1,000 schools have been approved to have building works carried out during the summer holidays – nearly two years after they applied.

BUDGET cuts have resulted in schools losing over 20% of their total grant income, with some losing as much as €60,000 in a full year, according to the representative body for the boards of management of almost 400 secondary schools in Ireland.

THE cold and rain failed to deter about 12,000 people from voicing their anger over education cutbacks outside Leinster House last night.