Thousands of anxious exam students and their parents will take heart from the weekend announcement by teachers and the Government that a mediator is to begin working on the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) dispute.
While the details remain scant and both sides are officially maintaining silence, it is clear a significant thaw has taken place.
All sides are being discreet, but there is a strong feeling the dispute can be brought to an end before schools reopen in the new year.
A suspension of ASTI's action could come before Christmas if the facilitator comes up with a formula acceptable to all sides.
Nobody involved in the talks wants to go out on a limb and there are plenty of cautious noises.
However, one thing is clear: this is the first time the Government has agreed to bring in an outsider to find a way to end the dispute. Teachers have long been calling for this, and the decision represents a minor victory for the ASTI leadership.
Students and parents, who were becoming increasingly frustrated over the last few weeks because nothing seemed to be happening, will be relieved. Inactivity had begun to breed a level of hopelessness.
Amid the despondency, some of the more hard-boiled realists in ASTI have realised an upfront payment of 30 per cent is not going to happen.
They have also realised that with recent Budget changes and an improved deal under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, most workers are coming close to a 30 per cent increase anyway, albeit spread over three years.
So even though few of them are prepared to declare it publicly, they realise they will have to settle for something less. Getting the Government to cede the "something less" is now the battle, it would appear.
Up to now the Government had simply called on ASTI to enter the benchmarking process, where the value of teachers' work is compared with that of other professionals. Now there is the possibility teachers will get a special forum - possibly linked in some way to benchmarking - of their own.
Will this be enough? The key word is special. If the forum is specifically there to address teachers' concerns and not just as an adjunct to the bench marking body, ASTI might be happy.
But there will also have to be hard talking about whether this body will have complete autonomy to make pay awards or whether it will have to make reference to other bodies such as the benchmarking group or the Government.
Labour Relations Commission official Mr Tom Pomphrett will have a taxing few days ahead of him. A veteran of tough industrial relations battles in CIE companies, he does not have time on his side and will need to finish his report before Christmas.
If his report is received positively by ASTI general secretary Mr Charlie Lennon and his close associates, then an internal battle within the union begins.
Its central executive will have an important say over whether the olive branch is accepted. Many of its members have already poured scorn on the idea of a forum linked to benchmarking, so they will want something more.
A down payment from the Government would be one incentive, but there is no mention of this at present in Government circles.
Presuming the reservations of those members can be overcome, a suspension of ASTI's action is on the cards.
This suspension will only be conceded after the union gets a raft of guarantees about the new body. "We will not stop the action for nothing, we will want to see something substantial on the table," said one ASTI member yesterday.
Mr Lennon said at the weekend that the announcement of Mr Pomphrett's appointment was "a step forward". It certainly is that, but nobody wants to use the word breakthrough, at least not yet.
But other observers said the Government was not likely to agree to Mr Pomphrett's appointment if it did not think ASTI would respond positively to such an overture.
While the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, was involved in the weekend discussions, sources suggest the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is also taking an active interest in events. It is unlikely Dr Woods or Mr Ahern would risk political capital on an initiative with no real prospect of succeeding.
The breathtaking scale of ASTI's planned action for the new year is also likely to soften the Government side a little. The union is looking at paralysing schools all over the State on a rolling basis, with most regions facing school closures for at least four days between January and February. Exam work is also going to be boycotted down the line.
The Government must be wondering how much more parents can take before they start to exact retribution.
Aside from the talks is the issue of whether teachers will have their pay docked for the six days they withdrew supervision in November.
The Government was still threatening to do that last night, but if teachers have signed up for industrial peace in a few days, it will be harder to do so.