Teachers will refuse to co-operate with any school-based assessment for the Junior Cycle, following a vote at the ASTI conference in Killarney.

The move, which was unanimously supported, makes it increasingly unlikely that training for the new Junior Cycle English programme, which is due to be introduced from next September, will begin this month. Teacher unions also plan to picket training centres.

Marian Wallace, an English teacher from Douglas in Co Cork, received two standing ovations during a speech in which she said English teachers are at war and she said she herself would go on hunger strike if she was forced to assess her own students.

“The Department of Education has turned to the gods of commerce and finance, throwing out equity to save money by having teachers assess their own students. I will not do it.

“I will go on hunger strike but I will not assess my own students.”

Parental support

Donegal teacher Neil Curran said there was a lack of clarity around when in-service training for English teachers would be held. ASTI sources said the union was receiving calls from teachers about when the training would take place, but they were not able to tell them.

A total of 17 delegates lined up to speak against teachers assessing and certifying their own students. Numerous speakers said most parents support the union’s stance .

ASTI president-elect Máire Ní Chiarba said the Department of Education lacked any conviction when it came to Junior Cycle reform. “They keep chopping and changing. First, there was to be state certification. Then, in an effort to undermine us and our policy, there was no State certification. Then, some. This was never going to be acceptable to teachers, parents or students.”

Ms Ní Chiarba said teachers had made all the arguments and “won the debate”.

Teacher Paddy Mulcahy said teachers will not settle for anything less than “100 per cent state certification. Not 40, not 60, 100. It’s the only number in town.”