Quinn stands over reform of junior cycle

A protracted stand-off between teachers and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn over junior cycle reform looks likely after he said he is pushing ahead as planned.

On Wednesday, 88% of Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and Teachers’ Union of Ireland members voted in favour of industrial action. While they support many elements of the Junior Cycle Student Award proposals, the biggest issue of contention is that teachers should mark their own students on all aspects of assessment.

Mr Quinn said yesterday that teachers’ main concern was not wanting the Junior Certificate to disappear as a State exam. However, he said, the world did not collapse when the primary certificate was ended in 1967. “Nobody wants their child to leave school at 15 — they don’t need a State certificate examination,” he said.