Teachers plan strike action if forced to mark Leaving Cert exam papers

"That is a red-line issue."

Secondary school teachers have said they will take strike action if plans for them to mark their one students' Leaving Certificate exams go ahead. The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) president Liz Farrell said at their annual conference on Wednesday that the plan is to take industrial action if this initiative goes ahead, deeming it a "red-line issue" for educators, according to Extra.ie. The plan currently stands that teachers will need to grade their own students' continuous assessments but not the final papers. Minister for Education Norma Foley launched a review of the Senior Cycle last year, meaning students would be assessed continuously throughout fifth and sixth year and it would account for 40% of their overall grade. The remaining 60% would then be in a traditional written assessment. [caption id="attachment_426669" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Photo: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie[/caption] Minister Foley said at the time: "It will reduce the pressure on students that comes from final assessments based primarily on examinations." Many teachers have been opposed to this new plan, and on Wednesday at the annual conference, Farrell said: "If we are asked to do this, we will ballot on industrial action. "What we want is consultation before anything gets anywhere near industrial action, but yes, the single most important thing to us is the examination of students for State certification. "That is a red-line issue and we will ballot members and then they will decide." At the TUI's conference, delegates voted for industrial action up to and including strike action when the issue was presented to them. The members of the TUI hope that the treat of industrial action will sway the Department of Education to push back on these plans, as they have previously. Previous plans the new Leaving Cert previously included English and Irish Paper 1 being sat in fifth year, with Paper 2 being sat in sixth year. The plans were opposed by teachers' unions and teachers. Photograph: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

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