The Department of Education has indicated in a confidential document that it will not contest teachers' demands for a significant pay rise. However, it wants concessions which might lead to a longer school year.
In a submission to the benchmarking review body the Department proposes:
The introduction of a revised Junior Cert with much greater use of continuous assessment from teachers and pupils.
More time for school planning and parent-teacher meetings without closing schools.
Co-operation by teachers with the new inspection system known as Whole School Evaluation. This focuses on the overall performance of the school and not on the performance of the individual teacher.
Both the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) are seeking pay increases of up to 34 per cent from the benchmarking body. Senator Joe O'Toole of the INTO has likened the body to an ATM machine, which will dole out cash to teachers.
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) has refused to co-operate with benchmarking, which it says could lead to British-style "industrialisation" of teaching.
The ASTI will ballot members shortly on a revised Labour Court recommendation which makes a case for its involvement in benchmarking.
The Department has said it will not dispute the recent Labour Court finding - that teachers have a "sustainable case" for a pay increase - at the bench marking body.
In its submission, the Department bolsters the case of the INTO and the TUI by highlighting the role of teachers in a series of innovations in Irish education in recent years. It also acknowledges that many teachers spend longer than their contracted hours either on or off the school premises on various teaching-related tasks.
With the decline of involvement by religious, schools are increasingly dependent on "lay teachers for co-operation" for non-teaching duties.
The submission says the delivery of a quality service should no longer be dependent on the voluntary co-operation of teachers.
It makes a case for a new teaching contract in which precise duties are set out. It also highlights the need to attract and retain high-quality people.
On the Junior Cert the Department says: "There is no reason why the Junior Cert should continue to be a mirror image of the Leaving Cert. A key difference between the role of second-level teachers in Ireland and elsewhere is the absence of any internal assessment of student performance" feeding into the State exams, it says.
The system in which "time for planning is often achieved at the expense of pupil contact time" is unsatisfactory. "This is not a sustainable approach and more innovative and flexible approaches need to be adopted."
This year primary schools have closed for six days to allow teachers to train on the new curriculum.
The Department appears to signal that the length of the school year, 183 days for primary teachers and 167 for second-level teachers, may have to be extended.
In an overview of Irish education, the Department says the number of second-level students will fall by 43,000 within the next decade.