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Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Will there be a teacher's strike in the autumn?
Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Thoughts now turn to the election of his successor and whether they will be viewed to be as tolerant and progressive as the late pontiff. Minister for Education Helen McEntee has her work cut out for her to keep secondary school teachers onside with both the Teacher's Union of Ireland and the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland voting to ballot on industrial action if plans to reform the Leaving Certificate from this September are not paused. And the Government has told RTÉ that State funding of more than €60 million for its redundancy plan will hinge on the broadcaster hitting yearly targets as it reduces its headcount. Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week: Bill Clinton on a polarized America 30 years on from the Oklahoma bombing , Ireland needs to tread carefully with the EU on tariffs, and have we reached an empathy crisis ?
The Irish Sun
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
What are Leaving Cert reforms and why are teachers considering strike? – Everything you need to know amid union concerns
TEACHERS are considering industrial action in a bid to push the government to act on concerns about proposed reforms to the Leaving Certificate. The final set of exams in secondary 3 Helen McEntee has insisted 'we all want these changes' Credit: Tommy Clancy 3 TUI President David Waters addressed the TUI conference Credit: Tommy Clancy Critics have argued that sitting one final exam for a given subject is too much pressure for This year, talks began between the Teacher's Union of Ireland and the But And the talks, which began just last week, are already proving controversial for some. READ MORE IRISH NEWS Here, we have outlined everything you need to know about the proposed changes, when they are due to come into effect and why teachers are prepared to strike over their concerns. WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED REFORMS? The changes that have been put forward would see a move away from the one final exam system that's currently in place. Instead, students would be graded on continuous assessment across a period of time. It means that they would complete a number of tests, oral exams, and projects throughout the school year to be judged on. MOST READ ON THE IRISH SUN The completed portfolio would then count for 40 per cent of the final grade. Watch emotional moment Leaving Cert student gets offered college course only 20 people get in every year And it would be graded, not by teachers, but by the State Examinations Commission. A similar move was made in the junior cert cycle in 2022, in the hopes that students would be under less pressure in schools. WHEN WILL LEAVING CERT CHANGES START? The proposed reforms are set to come in stages, with students going into fifth year in 2025 being the first to experience the new system. The first subjects to see the changes will be the Not all subjects will immediately see the continuous assessment model. In the years 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029, four more subject groups will see the change until the model for every subject is continuous assessment. WHY ARE TEACHERS CONSIDERING STRIKE? Two separate teacher's groups have voted in favour of a motion to take industrial action if the outcome of ongoing talks are not deemed acceptable. Both TUI and The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland have argued that the changes are being introduced too quickly. They are concerned that there won't be proper resources or staff training in place by the time the changes come into effect. Unions are also worried about ASTI voted in favour of the emergency motion at their annual conference in Co They had previously pleaded with Minister for Education Helen McEntee to postpone the changes for a year. ASTI general secretary Kieran Christie said the minister's refusal to delay the move brought "dismay and disappointment". And TUI President David Waters said the decision not to delay was "disappointing" and "a serious mistake". WHAT HAS THE MINISTER SAID? Minister for Education She said that she plans to engage with unions to see what can be done to support teachers. And she claimed that "we all want these changes". McEntee said: "We all know that they're coming in for the reasons that I've outlined to benefit young people and my focus now, in the next few weeks, is to make sure that whatever further support I can provide, I'll do that." WHEN WILL A DECISION BE MADE? Talks are set to resume after school restarts following the two week long Easter holiday. McEntee said she hopes the talks will be wrapped up "by early May". She said: "So really, in a matter of weeks." Although the focus for now is on the conferences, the threat of a strike could mean that the outcome gets delayed. 3 Teachers Unions have voted in favour of a motion to strike Credit: Tommy Clancy
Irish Examiner
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
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.
