The teaching staff of Castlepollard Community College joined 27,000 of their colleagues across the country in lunchtime protests on Tuesday March 11.
Teacher’s Union of Ireland (TUI ) president Gerard Craughwell said teachers were “angry” at the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn’s failure to listen to their concerns about the junior cycle Student Award programme.
The TUI is concerned that the new Junior Cycle Student Award, which will start in September poses a serious threat to education standards and to the objectivity and transparency of Junior Cycle exams. The new Junior Cycle Student Award programme will no longer have terminal exams assessed externally and concerns have been expressed to the union by its members that schools do not have the resources in place for the new programme.
Teachers at Tuesday’s demonstration outside Castlepollard Community College carried placards that read: ‘Protect Education Standards’, ‘Students Deserve Quality’, and ‘Equity and Fairness For Students’. The demonstrations held at lunchtime where scheduled by rota so that the children’s day was not interrupted. Teachers took their turn at the protest and supervision.
