Secondary teachers are calling on the next Minister for Education - whoever that may be - to discuss Junior Cert reform.

The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland is to hold a conference on the issue this weekend, as they continue to voice their opposition to changes which include in-school assessment.

However, not all teachers are opposed to reform as members of the TUI teachers union voted to accept the changes.

But Kieran Christie, General Secretary of the ASTI, believes the plans won't help students of any abilities: “Currently subjects are assessed at higher and ordinary level, the proposal is to abolish that and go for common levels.

“We think that that is detrimental because it tends to ‘rush to the middle’ in that the really exceptionally good students and perhaps the more challenged students are lost in that circumstances to a large extent.”