Asylum-seeker students may soon get a chance at a third-level education that financial barriers have previously blocked most from receiving, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has said.

The ban on promotion in primary schools should be lifted immediately, according to delegates at the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) annual congress.

Teachers and lecturers rose in applause at Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan’s intervention on behalf of colleagues who are in dispute with two colleges over the effects of a planned takeover.

Secondary teachers are to seek a full restoration of pay, as guaranteed in the Haddington Road Agreement.

Teachers spoke in support of ongoing opposition to elements of junior cycle reforms at conferences in Kerry and Wexford yesterday.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan is disturbed by the idea of teachers blocking colleagues from upskilling themselves as the impasse on junior cycle reform shows no sign of lifting.

WITH teachers and Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan engaged in a fruitless war of words, worried parents and the country’s leading business organisation, Ibec, are understandably concerned about the long-term impact of this festering dispute on pupils and the whole education system.

Teachers who want to take part in training for new junior cycle programmes may be blocked by pickets as union leaders seek further changes to reform proposals.

The Croke Park agreement, under which teachers work 33 hours per year in non-classroom contact, has been described as the “greatest waste of time ever”.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has urged people to join her in voting yes in the upcoming same sex marriage referendum.

Fee-paying schools have been lobbying the Government to allow them keep places for the children of past pupils, according to Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan.

There will be “no compromise” by protesting teachers in their opposition to proposed Junior Certificate reforms, the new president-elect of the 18,000-member ASTI has warned.

Primary teachers seeking pay restoration should go on strike to secure a rise in their wages, according to a motion yesterday at the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) annual congress.

The dispute with Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan over Junior Cert reform will continue into 2016, if she implements her proposals without teacher agreement, the leader of the secondary teachers’ union warned.

Teachers should not be expected to provide further extra work in return for any restoration of pay cuts of recent years, delegates at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland congress told their officials.

Nearly €4 out of every €5 spent on education goes on pay and pension, writes Gerard Howlin

NEW legislation on school enrolment consolidates religious authority in our schools and runs contrary to the objectives outlined by the last Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn — a reduction in the level of school patronage by the Catholic Church to something considerably less than the current 90%.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan could face Cabinet pressure and campaigning from schools as she plans to put much tighter limits than previously proposed on the number of places schools can reserve for past pupils’ children.

A row between teachers and Ruairi Quinn over the education minister’s abolition of the Junior Certificate looks set to deepen after he accused their unions of lacking trust in their professionalism.

The damage continual cutbacks to front-line teaching posts, resources and supports are causing to teachers’ mental and physical health must be immediately investigated, a major union has warned.

The loud negative reaction of secondary teachers to his remarks on junior cycle reform was described last night by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn as part and parcel of democracy.

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.

A merger of two of the country’s second-level teaching unions appears to have moved a step closer, after the leaders of both groups said the current separation was “absurd and certainly wasteful” and one voted in favour of entering talks on the deal.

Young teachers are being forced to take up second jobs at night because cuts to their school hours mean they are not paid enough to survive.

The teaching of religion in school is “not the highest thing on the agenda” of primary school teachers who are more concerned about pay and resources.

Primary school teachers have called on the Government to suspend the final phase of the cuts to teaching numbers in smaller schools.

The plight of recently qualified teachers on a different range of reduced pay scales to those of longer-serving colleagues was highlighted by delegates at the ASTI convention.

Higher level Leaving Certificate maths is to become a minimum requirement for people wishing to enter teacher training.

A deal on the gradual restoration of paycuts imposed on more than 2,000 young teachers in 2011 is expected in the coming weeks.