Teachers should be paid more for Junior Cert reform work, says union
The Teachers' Union of Ireland has stated that its members will be expecting more pay if the new Junior Cert system leads to their workload being increased.
Yesterday, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn announced that the State examination will be phased out by 2020 and replaced by a school-based model of continuous assessment.
Class work would count for 40% of marks, with the remaining 60% based on a final written exam - which teachers within the individual schools will correct.
However, the State Examination Commission will continue to provide the test papers.
TUI General Secretary John MacGabhann said that if the continuous assessments leads to more work for teachers, then they will be demanding more pay.
"If there is some significant increase in work, then, as a trade union, we will inevitably look for additional payment," he said.
"But there should not be such an increase in bureaucratic work. What should be done is that you should use existing assessments.
"You might tweak them, you might change them to fit the new syllabus of course, but you would use those existing assessment events as part of the 40%, for example."
