Second teachers' union votes unanimously for potential industrial action over Leaving Cert reforms
A second teachers' union has voted unanimously to consider industrial action should the implementation of major senior cycle reform proceed as planned next September.
Introducing the motion of consequence at the Teacher's Union of Ireland's annual congress in Wexford, delegates argued the infrastructure necessary to support the changes were currently insufficient and would not be ready in time for when the new system goes live.
The new reforms, the most significant seen to the Leaving Cert schedule in more than a century, will see a fundamental move in emphasis away from written exams, with a minimum of 40% of marks for relevant subjects to come from project work.
Criticisms of the reforms include they will exacerbate the advantages of better-funded schools, and will leave assessments vulnerable to the threat of generative AI, for which teachers have argued there are no ethical nor practical guidelines in place.
After a 10-minute debate, the motion passed unanimously among delegates, meaning both the ASTI and TUI have now voted for potential industrial action to avert the changes being introduced in five months' time.
Speaking to media at the same time the motion was being debated, minister for education Helen McEntee stressed she believed her department was in 'lockstep' with the unions 'in terms of the fact that there needs to be change to the Leaving Cert'.
She said her current 'intensive' engagement with the unions regarding the pending reforms amounted to seeing 'what more I can do to support them'.
Regarding the possibility of industrial action, she said: 'I don't see there should be a need to get to that point."
She acknowledged, however, that no comprehensive guidance has been issued in terms of AI, adding guidance would be issued 'in the coming months', a statement likely to be met with unhappy responses from the gathered teachers, who had repeatedly expressed their unhappiness with the tardiness of the provision of those guidelines across the two days of their congress.
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The Journal
2 days ago
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Threat of industrial action in secondary schools as ASTI rejects Leaving Cert reform package
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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
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Séamas O'Reilly: Many of the tropes of standard Irishness are not universally applied both sides of the border
You might be expecting me, a topical columnist, to give you, the schoolchildren of Ireland, a timely pep talk about the Leaving Cert exams you've just started, perhaps with a stirring tale from my own experience. Sadly, I can't do that because I never did the Leaving Cert. I was raised in Derry, and thus the British school system, so I did A-levels. They are, I'm sure, similar enough to the Leaving Cert that much of my advice would still be relevant, but still different enough that it wouldn't really make much sense to apply them directly to the exams you're sitting now. Such are the slightly odd contradictions of being raised in Northern Ireland and discovering, over many years, that many of the full-fat tropes of standard Irishness are not universally applied both sides of the border. I should be clear up-front that I've never felt any neurosis about this. It would, I suppose, take a lot for someone named Séamas O'Reilly to gain a complex about being insufficiently Irish. 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When, this week, the Telegraph printed a rabidly scaremongering report that 'White British people will be a minority in 40 years', they clarified this cohort as 'the white British share of the population — defined as people who do not have an immigrant parent'. Leaving aside how garbled that formulation is — there are millions of non-white Brits who meet that definition perfectly — it carried with it a parallel consequence. I myself do not have an immigrant parent. In fact, every single pale and freckled ancestor of mine since 1800, Irish farmers to a soul, was born and raised in something called the United Kingdom. This is true for a large number of Irish people in the North. And since the late Prince Philip was himself a Greek immigrant, it gives me great pleasure to point out that they'd settled on a definition of 'White British' which includes Gerry Adams but excludes King Charles III. 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Irish Independent
2 days ago
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ASTI votes down Leaving Cert reform package
The package related to teachers and their conditions of employment and apply only to those teachers who become parties to the agreement. The ASTI, in a separate ballot, voted 67pc to 33pc in favour of industrial action 'if necessary, up to and including strike action, in opposition to the accelerated implementation of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Programme'. Education Minister Helen McEntee said: 'Despite the positive engagement between the ASTI, the TUI and my Department in the recent negotiations, the ASTI's membership have voted not to accept this strong package of supports for teachers, schools and students on offer.' Despite the ASTI voting against this package, changes to senior cycle are still set to go ahead. Under the terms of the Public Service Agreement, ASTI members have committed to cooperating with Senior Cycle Redevelopment. In addition, in engagements before the ballot process, the ASTI confirmed to Department officials that their members will teach the new and revised specifications from the next school year. Minister McEntee added: 'As I confirmed in April, the implementation of the programme will continue with the introduction of the first tranche of new and revised Leaving Certificate subjects in September 2025 as previously announced. 'From the very outset, the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme has been motivated by the needs of our students. "The world is rapidly changing and it is important that we equip students with the skills they will need to succeed and to thrive when they finish school.' In the coming days, the Department will seek to engage with the leadership of the Teachers' Union of Ireland as it proceeds to implement the support measures. ASTI General Secretary Kieran Christie said: 'ASTI research published in 2025 shows that a key concern is the lack of resources and capacity in schools to introduce such radical change in an effective manner. "Furthermore, the supports on offer do little to provide a Senior Cycle experience for all students that addresses the core inequalities that are in place in the second-level system."
