The new Junior cycle student award is being played down as nothing more than a school report.

A meeting of ASTI teachers is continuing in Dublin this afternoon as the union discusses proposals put forward by the Minister for Education.

The TUI has already voted in favour of balloting their members.

Ruairi Quinn wants to remove external examiners from the junior cycle - in exchange for continuous assessment carried out internally by teachers.

Marie Ni Ciorba is a secondary teacher based in Cork and she says the new system will make it impossible to compare education standards in schools across the country: