Parents face the prospect of being unable to send their children to school on five days next month - though teachers will be reporting for work as normal.
As the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) steps up plans for industrial action, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, has briefed his Government colleagues on the pay unrest among teachers.
Later this week, school management bodies will advise boards of management that it would be unsafe to enrol students on five ASTI days of action.
On these days ASTI members will withdraw from lunchtime yard supervision duties and from providing short-term cover for absent colleagues.
The days are November 22nd, 23rd, 28th, 29th and 30th. Schools will be open on these days and teachers will report for work but parents will not be in a position to send their children to school.
Parents and students are also facing the prospect of two other days of disruption when schools close for one-day strikes on November 14th and in early December, probably December 6th.
In most schools, teachers provide yard supervision and short-term cover for colleagues on a voluntary basis; it does not form part of their regular 22-hour teaching week.
Last night Mr George O'Callaghan, general secretary of the Joint Management Body, which manages more than 400 schools, said schools could not accept students if there was not guaranteed supervisory cover.
Mr Sean McCann, general secretary of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, said parents would be advised not to enrol students on health and safety grounds if the proposed ASTI action went ahead.
In his discussions, Dr Woods conveyed the views of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) on the pay unrest. The TUI, like the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), wants substantial concessions from the current review of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF).
Both unions also want the benchmarking mechanism of the PPF, which could reward teachers for productivity increases, to be brought forward from 2003 to June next year.
Sources say the Government will only negotiate with the TUI and the INTO in the context of the current PPF review.
The TUI is threatening to ballot on industrial action unless the Government responds positively to its demands by November 10th. The ASTI, alone among the teaching unions, withdrew from PPF negotiations to pursue its separate 30 per cent pay claim.
Dr Woods is due to meet ASTI shortly to hear its views on the current dispute.