ASTI members seek ‘confidence-building measures’

A secondary teachers’ union says an offer of “confidence-building measures” from the Department of Education might convince its members to co-operate with contingency plans in the event they take industrial action.

A ballot of members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) is due to be completed next Friday. If they vote in favour of withdrawing from supervision and substitution duties, it is feared schools might have to close.

The Department of Education has asked the ASTI to not only co-operate with contingency plans to keep schools open, but also to give it sufficient notice to put those plans in place.