The quality of education in every school in the State is to be examined under a new inspection system which the Department of Education hopes to introduce next September.
But teachers will not be individually assessed under the new system, which will focus on the performance of the whole school. It also seems unlikely that reports on schools will be made available to parents.
According to a draft Department of Education circular which has been seen by The Irish Times, the new inspection system will "provide objective, dependable and high-quality data" on the operation of schools and the entire education system.
The decision by the Department of Education to press ahead with the new system has surprised some teaching unions, given the current unrest over pay.
The main secondary teaching union, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) has already signalled it may not co-operate with the new system, known as Whole School Evaluation (WSE), until its pay claim is met.
ASTI is expected to begin industrial action in the autumn in pursuit of a 30 per cent pay raise. The other teaching unions are pursuing pay increases through the productivity section of the new national pay deal.
The circular has been forwarded this week to the main education partners.
The Department will consult further with these before making a final decision on implementation.
WSE is designed to deal with the lack of accountability in the Irish education system.
Although primary teachers can be inspected every three or four years, it is still very rare for a secondary teacher to be subject to any inspection.
It is the ASTI's policy that its members are under no obligation to allow an inspector to monitor their teaching.
Despite some opposition within the teaching unions, WSE has been criticised as too mild and ineffective by the National Parents Council (Primary). Its chief executive, Ms Fionnuala Kilfeather, has complained that WSE will make little real difference for parents because it concentrates on the performance of the school rather than on individual teachers.
According to the circular, WSE reports on schools will provide general information "useful to policy-makers and the education partners on the operation of the education system". However, the WSE report on any given school will not be made generally available to parents or the public.
The relevant parents' association will be consulted about a fortnight before the inspectors begin their work in any school.
According to the circular, a WSE report will not contain any information which could be used to help compile school league tables, where the academic performance of different schools is compared.
The Department circular promises that classroom visits by inspectors "will focus on the evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching . . . In addition to recognising and affirming good teaching, inspectors will also engage with a class through questioning.
"Inspectors will at the end of each classroom visit give oral feedback and advice to each teacher in a supportive and constructive way".
The circular states that inspectors will focus on five main areas: school planning; school management; curriculum provision; learning and teaching; and support for students and the character of the school.
Details of the precise criteria to be used will be published shortly. The Department of Education has already completed a pilot project of WSE in selected schools throughout the State. Despite opposition from some in the teaching unions, WSE was seen as a very useful programme by teachers and schools involved in the pilot study.