The Education Minister says she hopes teachers union the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) will soon sign up to Junior Cert reforms.

Jan O'Sullivan says negotiations are progressing behind the scenes, after years of dispute over changes.

The ASTI rejected the reform proposals, while their colleagues in the TUI decided to accept them after negotiation. 

The new programme would see a move towards more continuous assessment rather than a single set of exams.

Minister Jan O'Sullivan says the changes are positive for students, and hopes the ASTI will accept them:

"This reform has been talked about for so long. We're pressing on. It's a really good reform. It does allow for us to reward things like working together in a group, like creative thinking - all of these kinds of skills that are so important for the world we live in today.

I do hope that we will still have full agreement from the ASTI."

1,200 teachers have already undergone special training for the new programme