Teachers yet to vote on Junior Cycle reform

Any training of teachers for new assessments of Junior Cycle students from next spring will not be able to start until at least mid-October as unions have yet to ballot members on the plans.

While the outcome will not be known for a month, a crucial factor will be whatever recommendations are made later this week by leaders of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI). Both have agreed to ballot their combined 27,000 members who work at more than 700 second-level schools, but it is unclear what position their respective executives will take. The main details were finalised in May with the Department of Education, with further key commitments on the time to be allowed for preparations within schools decided last month.

Instead of all assessment for Junior Cycle being carried out by their own teachers as previously proposed, students’ final written exams would continue to be marked by the State Examinations Commission.

Teachers would undertake classroom-based assessments in second-year and third-year, the first of which may be carried out in schools in early 2016 for English students going into second year this week, but a further written task in third year would also be marked externally.

Ongoing industrial action has seen a ban on the related continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers, but an extensive training programme is ready to be delivered by the department’s Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) service if the ballots. The ASTI’s standing committee meets on Thursday and Friday ahead of the convening of its larger 180-member central executive committee (CEC) in Dublin on Saturday. The smaller leadership group may consider what view to take on the Junior Cycle plan, but any recommendation — if any — on whether or not to accept the proposal will be for the CEC to make.

The TUI central executive meeting on Friday will also consider whether or not to recommend acceptance or rejection, or to make no recommendation. The timing of postal ballots means it will most likely be weeks before the outcome is known.

With regional information meetings schedule for ASTI members from the middle of next week, the union expects that ballot papers would be received around the third week of September. The union’s balloting process normally takes at least two weeks to complete.

The ASTI is also asking members to vote on possible industrial action in a parallel ballot. A yes vote in the second poll would see the standing committee authorised to direct members not to undertake additional duties if they are not being paid for the work as holders of a special duties post.

Such a move would mirror a directive already in place for TUI’s 10,000 second-level members, stepping up pressure on Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan to address a long-standing ban on promotions to middle-management positions in schools in the October budget. It is possible that the ASTI, if not both second-level unions, will wait until after the Junior Cycle ballot papers have issued before asking their members to vote separately on the latest public service pay deal.

The TUI executive decided in June to recommend its members reject the Lansdowne Road deal. ASTI’s standing committee proposes its CEC recommend it be rejected also, and that will also be considered on Saturday.