Despite talks taking place yesterday, it looks like the Teacher strike scheduled for next Thursday, 22nd January will go ahead. The Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) have issued a joint statement saying that while they’re still prepared to talk with the government, there remains a ‘considerable difference’ between the unions and government on the proposed Junior Cycle reform…
The main sticking point is that teachers are being asked to grade their own students for 40% of the marks in the revamped Junior Cert. Originally, it was proposed that they grade 100% of Junior Cert course work. Teachers feel that this places them in an awkward situation that potentially compromises standards and would change the way they do their jobs.
You can view the press release here and if there’s any further updates, we’ll let you know but right now the strike action scheduled for January 22nd will still go ahead which means a day off for secondary school students in about 700 schools across the country.