Parents will receive no specific information on underperforming teachers when school inspection reports are made available to the public later this year.
But they will gain access to an overview by Department of Education inspectors about the performance of a school.
In an unprecedented move, the reports of school inspections - conducted after next Monday - will be published on the Department of Education website and made available to parents. The first reports are expected to be published around Easter.
However, the regulations - agreed with the teaching unions and other education partners - say there will be a ban on reports in various areas including:
• Reports by the inspectors on teachers who have been the subject of a complaint by parents.
• Reports based solely on the work of individual teachers.
• Reports on teachers experiencing professional difficulties.
Teaching unions say these measures are designed to safeguard the rights of teachers.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin hopes publication of inspection reports will help to lessen public demand for school league tables as published in The Irish Times and elsewhere.
Four years ago the department refused to release inspection reports to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act. On appeal, the High Court later ordered their release, a decision later overturned in the Supreme Court.
Yesterday Ms Hanafin said the reports will help to provide accurate information.
"By making these reports available, I am providing more information about schools. Crude league tables, based solely on examination results, are damaging and misleading, whereas these reports will provide accurate and balanced information on the work of schools," the Minister said.
Until now inspection reports have been made available only to the board of management and staff of each school.
Under the new regulations, schools will gain a right of reply to the comments made in the inspector's report "within 21 days of the issue of the report to the school".
The department will then publish the inspectorate report and the school response.
It is expected that inspections will be completed in approximately 300 primary and post-primary schools in 2006.
Schools are generally visited about every five years by the inspectorate.
INTO general secretary John Carr said his union would be monitoring the new process closely amid concerns that publication could be used to help compile school league tables.
"It is important to bear in mind that many primary schools already provide huge amounts of information to parents in meetings and reports," he added.
