Details of a new system in which teachers evaluate their own performance in the classroom have been circulated to second-level schools throughout the State by the Department of Education.
Under the system teachers answer a range of questions, including how well they deliver a lesson, how well they control a class and how well they deal with pupils' difficulties.
They answer "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" to the questions and form an overall view on how they are performing.
The Department has submitted the system to schools for their consideration.
It is not making the system compulsory, but hopes the exercise can assist schools to undertake overall school planning, which is now a legal requirement under the Education Act.
The self-appraisal system is meant to get teachers to reflect on their performance and improve areas where they are weak. Unlike the traditional inspection system, the exercise does not involve any outside agency and the self-appraisal forms are not passed to any other agency or individual.
While the Department of Education has no plans to make such a system compulsory, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said schools should "draw on" the system and other work included in a new EU report, Evaluating Quality in School Education at Second Level - The Irish Experience.
The report involved schools throughout the EU evaluating their performance through the use of different tools. Five Irish schools took part in the exercise and their experiences are included in the report.
One of them, Maynooth Post Primary School in Co Kildare, devised the teachers' self-appraisal system, and has briefed Department of Education officials on it.
The principal of Maynooth Post Primary, Mr Sean Ashe, said the system had been a major success at his school.
He said that unlike evaluation by outside individuals, including Department of Education inspectors, teachers were comfortable with the format and used it constructively.
Teachers were prepared to be self-critical, he said, and it was a chance for them to ask themselves questions they might resent from others.
Teachers are asked a range of questions including whether they made adequate use of audio-visual aids during lessons, had a competence in their subject and whether they had self-confidence.
Other questions are asked about dress, punctuality and commitment to the school.
Under the provisions of the Education Act 1998, schools are obliged to engage in proper planning and evaluate their performance.
Mr Ashe said the system could be one way for schools to do this.
All schools and their management bodies have been sent a copy of the report.
Apart from the self-appraisal system, the report also includes systems to measure students' performance, and a system for tracking students who have left school and entered third level.
Dr Woods called on all schools to look at the report and the models contained in it as part of planning for school development and "in enhancing the quality of education provided for students".