The Minister for Education and Science has rejected claims by the union representing primary school teachers that the release of a report critical of new entrants to the teaching profession was timed to deflect attention away from the issue of class sizes.
The survey claimed that one in three new primary teachers was not up to the mark.
Mary Hanafin says the report was issued last week to the education partners without any media launch and it was not something for which they were looking for attention.
She said the issues raised were being worked on by the training colleges.
Earlier, primary teachers claimed that the report had been released before its planned publication date in order to deflect attention away from the issue of class sizes.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation was responding to the early release of the report, details of which were published in today's Irish Independent.
INTO General Secretary John Carr said instead of criticising young teachers the system should be helping them.
He said these reports came at a coincidental time and he called for the introduction of a four-year cycle for trainee teachers.
