Junior Certs may miss out on full exam mark with teachers in dispute over assessment changes

Most third-year students could lose 10% in marks in Junior Certificate English next year. Their teachers are in dispute over assessment changes.

As classes resume this week, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) is planning further protests to highlight its opposition to the junior- cycle reforms. Following numerous ballots, its 17,500 members have been banned from undertaking training related to the changes, or from carrying out in-school assessments of their own students.

ASTI members account for most staff at the country’s 370 voluntary secondary schools, and at dozens of others jointly staffed with members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI).