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MINISTER FOR EDUCATION Ruairí Quinn has this evening expressed his “regret” that teachers are to ballot for industrial action over changes to the Junior Certificate curriculum.
Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), numbering some 27,000, are to be balloted over outstanding concerns relating to the new Junior Cycle Student Award.
The potential industrial action will consist of non-co-operation with aspects of the JCSA.
“I have listened to the concerns expressed by unions and others in relation to the new JCSA and I have made significant changes in terms of the main areas like pace of change, training for teachers, resources and moderation,” the Minister said, calling for this work to be continued as part of the Working Group.
I hope they will not vote to disrupt students and schools through industrial action.
The Working Group last met earlier this month.
Outlining the changes already made following concerns from teachers over the curriculum change, he said that the changeover has been pushed back two years, and that only English will adopt the new curriculum in September.
He stressed that teachers will receive the necessary training.
The General Secretary of the ASTI Pat King said that teachers have “no confidence” in the reforms.
“Educationally unsound”
He is citing a lack of consultation with teachers ahead of the changes, as well as fears that the JCSA will be ” educationally unsound”, as the reasons behind the ballot.
The TUI say that the lack of preparation for teachers will cause lasting damage to the education system.
“We believe that student achievement in the new Junior Cycle must be externally assessed and nationally certified by the State Examinations Commission,” he added.
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My wife was under the supervision of Dr. Louise Kenny who is one of the leading Doctors in this research. My wife delovped this condition in her three pregnancy’s the last only two weeks ago. Only for the very highly skilled Dr. Kenny we have three healthy children. Well done to all involved and keep up the excellent research.
Fantastic news.
I suffered badly with this during my one and only pregnancy which lead to my boy being born 10wks early. Both of us came out of it great thankfully and you wouldn’t belive now that my boy was only 2lb7 when born. He is fine, big and healthy now. I was advised to be happy with what I had and not try pregnancy again.
So this news is amazing and its just a pity my time clock is against me. But best of luck to those that lives it will touch.
This is fantastic news, I’m currently on bed rest with high blood pressure during my pregnancy and hoping it doesn’t develop into pre-eclampsia! I wish all those involved with this project the very best of luck!
Best of luck to you Starry eyed :)
This is a wonderful advance. It will save many lives and help spare heartache. Pre-eclampsia was diagnosed too late for my first pregnancy and my premature son only lived 4 days. I had pre-eclampsia from the beginning of my second pregnancy but thankfully with blood pressure medication and regular monitoring, I have a very healthy daughter. Best of success to this company.
Well done folks!
Hi folks, Just to draw your attention to a link that you might find useful should you require more information about pre-eclampsia – have a look at the Pre-eclampsia Foundation’s website: http://www.preeclampsia.org/
I added it to the end of the article above but just in case some people didn’t read right to end and skipped straight to comments. (Not that that EVER happens on our site ;))
Best of luck to all mums and dads-to-be, Susan
Well done to them and hopefully it’s successful. I had pre-eclampsia with both my children and its one of the reasons I won’t have a third. Anything that can detect and hopefully in time prevent this awful condition is to be applauded.
It is a UCC spinout company too – great news for them, well done!
I love it!
Well done to all involved. Up Cork and its enterprising personnel.
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