Secondary teachers may defer any plans to disrupt schools for several weeks at a critical meeting later today.
Yesterday, the ASTI secured majority support to withdraw supervision/substitution cover, but by a narrower margin than expected. This is likely to prompt ASTI members to postpone immediate action on supervision, the withdrawal of which would force most schools to close.
There remains widespread anger among members that they were not given a chance to vote on the Government's offer of £27 an hour for supervision duties.
Last night the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said that while disappointed, he remained available to clarify any aspects of the supervision offer for the ASTI.
"I hope that the ASTI and its members can find a way of reviewing their decision," he added.
The ASTI's 180-member Central Executive Committee will consider the ballot result and the future of the union's troubled campaign for a 30 per cent pay rise at a meeting today in Dublin.
Members voted 55 to 45 to withdraw from voluntary yard supervision and substitution cover. The turnout of 53 per cent was low compared to the 70 per cent who voted in the last ballot on pay.
In other developments, the INTO voted yesterday to ballot members on the Government's offer of £27 an hour for supervision/substitution. The executive of the union is recommending acceptance of the offer.
Senator Joe O'Toole, the INTO's general secretary, said he believed the deal was the best available at this time. He would seek to make improvements on the offer in the benchmarking process and in other forums.
A leading parents' representative, Ms Barbara Johnston, said the ASTI was "out of step" with the other teaching unions.
Its decision not to allow members to vote on the Government offer showed "a lack of respect for ordinary teachers; the union should get its act together", she said.
The Joint Managerial Body which represents managers in all voluntary secondary schools, said it was disappointed at the decision of the ASTI to withdraw from voluntary supervision/substitution.
"The decision creates a real crisis for schools," the body's general secretary, Mr George O'Callaghan, said.
"School management is now facing great difficulty in ensuring the safety of students in its care. The issue of substitution for absent teachers is particularly difficult and not easily amenable to resolution in the absence of teachers providing necessary cover.
"We have no wish to close schools. However, withdrawal of cover would force management to close schools to students to ensure their safety in the absence of such cover arrangements."
The Fine Gael spokesman on education, Mr Michael Creed, said the Taoiseach should intervene in the dispute. "With the advent of school closures, the rift between parents and teachers, so apparent in the aftermath of last year's ASTI strike action, looks set to re-emerge. The Taoiseach must intervene to ensure this does not happen, now that his Minister has lost all credibility."