Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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49. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm that students taught by members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland will not be disadvantaged in the junior certificate examinations in 2017; his contingency plans for these examinations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31001/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that teachers of English who are members of ASTI have been directed by their union that, while they are to teach the new Junior Cycle subject specification, they are not to undertake Classroom Based Assessments (CBAs) with their students. CBAs form a key element of the new Junior Cycle.  Therefore, students who are taught by a teacher who is a member of the ASTI will not receive a grade for their CBAs and also since the written Assessment Task which is to be completed by students is linked to the second CBA, which is worth 10% of the marks for the final examination, these students cannot complete the Assessment Task, or gain marks for this examination component. Candidates for Junior Cycle English in 2017 who do not complete the assessment task can only be marked and graded based on a maximum of 90% of the available marks.

Given the very unfair position in which the ASTI directive now places teachers and students of English, my Department has been seeking to positively engage with ASTI to find a solution.  

It is unprecedented for a second level teachers union to proceed with an industrial action that directly impacts on State examination students in this way.  I am sure that this was not the original intention of the directive, but ASTI‘s failure to date to lift the directive so that some current third year students of English are not disadvantaged is unacceptable and flies in the face of a longstanding code of honour in respect of the timing and nature of industrial action to avoid disrupting State examination students.  ASTI need to immediately suspend their directive to allow these students to complete their Assessment Task.  This suspension can be without prejudice to discussions in the meantime between the Department and ASTI on issues of concern that they may wish to have addressed.

My Department has formally requested the ASTI to provide an immediate derogation from their directive regarding the CBAs for current teachers of English, while talks between my Department and the union proceed, in order that some current third year English students are no longer unfairly and unjustifiably disadvantaged