Education Correspondent The Minister for Education has invited ASTI trade union leadership to meet her to discuss the union's withdrawal from talks aimed at finding a way of assessing this year's Leaving Certificate students. The ASTI pulled out of the talks in protest at what it said was the prioritisation of a calculated grade type assessment over the sitting of exams. The secondary teachers’ union said it was withdrawing pending a guarantee that negotiations will focus on what it said are the minister’s stated objectives, of planning for examinations and scoping out a corresponding measure. The union dismissed as "unacceptable" what it said is a plan that would effectively see students preparing for two versions of a Leaving Certificate, with Calculated Grades being the dominant option, and Leaving Cert exams filling in assessment gaps.