Secondary school disruption next week moved a step closer this evening after the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) decided it would not work with non-teachers engaged in supervision duties.
The country’s biggest secondary teachers union the ASTI is due to withdraw from voluntary supervision on Monday but the majority of schools will remain open because of the Department of Education’s success in recruiting non-teachers.
However, the TUI has decided not to work alongside the non-teaching supervisors brought in to replace ASTI members.
The TUI say teachers are the most appropriate personnel to supervise students and that the introduction of non-teachers will change the ethos of schools and create other problems.
The introduction of the 'lay supervisors' will not prevent problems arising out of teachers being unavailable to teach classes due to illness or other reasons, as both unions are also refusing to perform substitution work.
The Minister for Education, Dr Michael Woods, is due to meet the three main teaching unions - the ASTI, TUI and INTO - over the next two days in a bid to end the dispute.