Secondary teachers will meet next week to consider the next phase of their pay campaign after members rejected a Labour Court offer.
However, the threat to this summer's exams has been lifted after members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) voted overwhelmingly against any move to reimpose a ban on exam work.
Last night, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said: "I am delighted with the overwhelming vote of the general body of ASTI members against any further disruption of the exams.
"These most vulnerable students can now concentrate fully on their studies and ensure their futures in further education and employment."
On teachers' pay, the Minister said: "In the coming days and weeks I will be seeking ways by which we can move forward, rather than get stuck in a rut which leads nowhere other than stagnation. I stress that what ASTI teachers have been seeking can be obtained through acceptance of the Labour Court recommendation and participation in the benchmarking process." However, the ASTI president, Mr Don McCluskey, put the emphasis on the rejection of the Labour Court offer. "Members have voted to continue with a campaign of industrial action in pursuit of a pay claim. The result shows the determination of teachers to achieve a professional pay scale."
ASTI members will now be balloted this month on a range of fresh industrial action, including a withdrawal from unpaid, voluntary supervision duty which could, potentially, lead to school closures from September.
In a record vote of 77 per cent of its 17,000 members, 57 per cent rejected the Labour Court offer, with 43 per cent accepting it. On the exams, over 77 per cent voted against a reimposition of the strategy.
The relatively slim majority against the Labour Court offer is a surprise after the ASTI annual convention in Galway voted recently against it by a three-to-one margin. Last October, over 90 per cent of ASTI members voted to support a campaign of industrial action.
Next Wednesday's meeting of the 180-member central executive council will review the union's campaign for a 30 per cent pay increase and decide on future strategy.
Last night, a senior ASTI member acknowledged that the range of options available to the union had now narrowed significantly.
The revised Labour Court offer rejected by the ASTI pointed the union towards the benchmarking pay review body, established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). The Labour Court proposals also offered teachers £1,750 if they made up lost hours to exam students. This proposal will now be abandoned as the package has been rejected.
The Fine Gael education spokesman, Mr Michael Creed, said he regretted the ASTI's rejection of the Labour Court recommendations. He welcomed the teachers' decision not to disrupt the Leaving Cert.
The general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), Mr George O'Callaghan, said the ASTI should reconsider any industrial action in the light of the tight vote.
The closeness of the vote "places a big question mark" over any ASTI industrial action, said Mr Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association. There were now questions over the "moral validity" of further industrial action.