The acting Minister for Education says she is willing to engage with the ASTI to clarify any issues regarding Junior Cycle reform.

Jan O'Sullivan was responding to plans by the ASTI to stage a series of one-day strikes from September if the ongoing dispute around proposed changes to the junior cycle is not resolved.

Ms O'Sullivan says she is disappointed by the move and says the reforms have been accepted by the Teachers Union of Ireland.

The acting Minister says although she will not be attending the upcoming teachers conferences, she is still in a position to discuss current policy.

She said: "Really the minister's contribution is about future policy, it's about looking forward. Clearly I am in an acting capacity at the moment.

"We had discussions with the unions and we decided that it wasn't appropriate to do the usual visit of the minister at the conferences.

"I do fully take responsibility and I've made it quite clear that my door is open with regard to the process that was agreed at those meetings last year."