Teachers ready for ‘lockout’ scenario

Teachers are preparing to present themselves as being in a ‘lockout’ situation next week, as talks to avert the closure of over 500 second-level schools have still not found a resolution to their pay dispute.

Some schools have already written to parents advising them not to send children to school next week due to the health and safety implications of opening without adequate cover for supervision work. But others have advised families to stay in touch with the unfolding situation through the media, as they still hope to be able to re-open after this week’s mid-term.

This week’s second day of talks between Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Department of Education officials broke up at teatime yesterday, and they will reconvene at the department today. More than 370 schools where ASTI members work will close indefinitely if they go ahead with a decision to stop doing supervision and substitution work from Monday, while over 100 others are still in the process of hiring temporary supervisors but may not have them in place for several weeks.