ASTI action saves €5m on teacher training

The absence of most second-level teachers from training around junior cycle reforms helped Education Minister Richard Bruton to save over €5m on teacher education last year.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) decided just this summer to instruct its members to end the industrial action which saw them refuse to take part in continuous professional development (CPD) associated with the reforms.

The smaller Teachers’ Union of Ireland membership in second-level schools signed up to the reforms in September 2015 after some concessions on the original plans had been negotiated with the Department of Education.