Unions to decide on further talks over junior cycle plans

Teacher union leaders will decide on Friday whether to proceed with talks on disputed aspects of junior cycle reforms, after a second full day of discussions with the Department of Education again failed to produce any agreement.

The negotiations between department officials and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) broke up after 11pm on Monday.

With little or no progress on the disputed question of who should mark students’ work for a revised Junior Certificate, it had been proposed by the department that talks chairman Pauric Travers draw up proposals based on his understanding of each side’s position.