Junior Cycle meeting fails to address teachers' concerns - joint TUI/ASTI statement

By piofficer, Friday, 17th January 2014 | 0 comments

Teacher unions to consider balloting on proposed Junior Cycle changes


Second level teacher union representatives have expressed grave disappointment after attending a working group on proposed Junior Cycle changes with the other education partners and Department of Education and Skills officials today.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said that today’s meeting did not involve genuine engagement on the issues of most concern to second-level teachers. The executive bodies of the TUI and ASTI will meet to decide on balloting members on non-cooperation with the implementation of the proposed changes.

Speaking after the meeting ASTI General Secretary Pat King said:

“TUI and ASTI representatives today attended a meeting of the working group on proposed Junior Cycle changes with the other education partners.

“In a series of bilateral meetings over several months, both ASTI and TUI had outlined their significant concerns over the proposed changes, including the threat to the standards and objectivity of exams at Junior Cycle level, the capacity of schools to implement the new Junior Cycle programme in the wake of a litany of cutbacks, and the potential of the programme to exacerbate inequalities between schools.”

TUI General Secretary John MacGabhann  said:
“We have consistently stressed that change for which adequate preparation has not been made can cause lasting damage to the education system and particularly to individual students.

“With less than nine months left before implementation is scheduled to commence, today was set as a deadline for the Department of Education and Skills to provide concrete information that could be objectively considered by the unions.

“Regrettably, key questions on standards, capacity and equity which we have repeatedly posed were not satisfactorily answered and the level of detail required on a number of crucial matters was not provided. Even at this late stage, there remain more questions than answers and this is completely unacceptable.”

The TUI Executive Committee, and the ASTI Executive Committee and Standing Committee will meet over the coming week to consider balloting members on non-cooperation with the implementation of the proposed changes.

 

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