Teaching Unions and the Education Minister will attend fresh talks next week on Junior Cycle reform.

It follows today's one-day strike over the issue.

Earlier, the Minister Jan O'Sullivan called on the unions to compromise in the dispute.

However, teachers say they're not for turning on the proposals, which would see them mark 40 per cent of students exams themselves.

Nearly 30,000 secondary teachers were on the picket lines today for the second time and they have threatened to call a third day of strike over their opposition to marking their own students assessments.

The one day strike went ahead despite an 11th hour appeal by the Taoiseach yesterday, who told unions the compromise on the table is reasonable and should be accepted.

The action by the ASTI and TUI follows a similar work stoppage in December, with at least one more strike planned in the weeks ahead.

350,000 pupils were forced to stay at home today.

The unions are fundamentally opposed to marking their own pupils for state certification, although the Education Minister has reduced the requirement by 60%.

General Secretary of the ASTI Pat King says parents need to trust the judgment of teachers in this instance:

“What I would say to parents is trust the opinion of teachers on this one. Our opinion is that the proposals that are there now for assessment by teachers for certification, potentially could undermine the standards that are so important.”

Secondary teacher Luke Saunders told the Last Word on Today FM that the assessment plan is a red line issue for the profession

“If teachers correcting their own students work is wrong it’s wrong – it doesn’t matter if its 100 per cent, 60 per cent or even 10 per cent – it’s wrong, it should not happen and it’s going to devalue our education system, I believe,” he said.

Ms Sullivan however has said she has already made concessions on the issue and there is “no logic in saying I have to do all the moving” in negotiations”.

“This isn’t something I’ve come up with out of my own head, this is something that has has been mentioned by the national council for curriculum and assessment,” she told The Last Word.

“There is a huge body measure that suggests that we need to change the way that we measure the attainments of these young people,” she added.

This afternoon, John Walshe, education columnist with the Irish Independent and former special advisor to Minister Ruairi Quinn between 2011 and 2014, spoke to Lunchtime with Jonathan Healy today about the strike and where he sees it going from here:

Yesterday, Education Minister O'Sullivan told Lunchtime with Jonathan Healy that she didn't think the strike was right: "I have great faith in the teachers.

I think the leadership of the teachers should reconsider what's going on here. They're taking children out of school. The threat of another strike is really worrying for the students, particularly the Leaving Cert students.

"It's not right to do this."

Originally posted at 6.50am