Teachers lose a class in junior cycle deal

Second-level teachers would have one less class a week to facilitate planning and meetings for the junior cycle system, under a new deal between unions and the Department of Education.

While this and other arrangements may address some teacher concerns about the reforms, no agreement will be signed unless 27,000 members of the two unions back them in a ballot after schools reopen in September.

There could be additional staffing costs of tens of millions of euro a year from 2017, when every full-time teacher of junior cycle students will see their timetable reduced from 33 to 32 periods a week. The extra 40 minutes is to be used for planning, feedback, and other activities, but also for meetings every year in which teachers of each subject share and discuss samples of their assessments of students’ work for a new component of the junior cycle.