Teacher strike chaos to spill into new year

The teachers’ strike, which will cause disruption to hundreds of thousands of students and parents today, looks set to spill into next year with the Government and unions entrenched.

More than 340,000 students will be forced to stay at home because of work stoppages by 27,000 members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and Teachers’ Union of Ireland, in a dispute with Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan over who should assess students in a reformed Junior Certificate.

The minister bowed to union pressure on a number of issues three weeks ago, dropping plans to replace State certification with a school-issued award, and agreeing to keep external assessment for final written exams. But union leaders refuse to negotiate further as long as she insists they agree first that members assess their students’ second-year and third-year work, worth 40% in each subject.