THIS was the week the teachers went to the precipice. But the prospect of widespread industrial action proved too appalling a vista, and they drew back from the edge.

Both second level unions waved the weapon of strikes in schools, and then resolved to go back into talks with the Government on the package their members had decisively rejected.

The teacher conferences provided ample evidence that teachers feel angry, neglected and frustrated. But it did little to show how the current impasse can be resolved.

If anything, the week's talkfest demonstrated that the teachers have dug themselves into a very deep hole. Negotiating a revised deal with the Government would, probably mean settling for less than the £66.7 million currently on offer.

Taking industrial action means courting public unpopularity and possible legal sanctions. And other options risk breaking the fragile unity that exists with their primary colleagues in the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO).

The unions' leaders were left to carry the can for the inadequacies of the package, and then they were told to go back into negotiations.

The problem remains that the Government offer was rejected for many differing reasons. Yesterday the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) debated more than 20 of these. So fixing up the package will require more than a single sticking plaster.

The Minister for Education braved the conferences and returned home relatively unscathed, having adopted the necessary conciliatory tone.

But Ms Breathnach's offer to discuss the crucial issue of early retirement raised expectations again and may come back to haunt her. Indeed, it was an ambitious promise by the Minister on early retirement, made at the conferences three years ago, that set the ball rolling and led to the present sorry mess.

The inclination among many delegates at one stage was to walk away from talks completely. Teachers are not primarily interested in money what they care about is their professional dignity and the atmosphere in which they work. They say both of these would have been impaired by the proposals on the table.

The question at the ASTI and the Teachers' Union of Ireland conferences was the same why is the Minister insisting on extra productivity when she hasn't given any recognition to the extra workload resulting from the plethora of new programmes introduced in schools in recent years?

So teachers aren't arguing about the score in the match; they want the game moved to a different pitch.

But this argument would be better, put to the leadership of both unions, which seemed happy enough with the product of their negotiations over two years. Over the past week, the TUI leadership has moved with alacrity to disown the fruits of this labour; the ASTI leaders admitted failures of communication within their organisation.

THE other main preoccupation of secondary teachers the preservation of promotion by seniority - was defended vigorously at the ASTI conference in Killarney this week.

Ms Breathnach is proposing to introduce promotion by merit into all schools, but secondary teachers argue that this would destroy the spirit of co operation in their schools. They talk darkly of political and personal influences at work in other sectors where appointments are made on merit.

This is one area where the Minister could, at no extra cost, provide guarantees or make compromise proposals to meet the concerns of the ASTI.

At times the conferences were like extended therapy sessions, with teachers complaining about everyone - the media, parents, school managers, their leadership, the Department of Education.

The rise of parent power was bitterly resented. One delegate said teachers were being turned into babysitters, yet parents were quick to pull their, children out, of school for foreign holidays or badly paid part time work.

The Department's Time in School circular came in for the expected heavy criticism. For many delegates, this was the final straw in an increasingly fraught relationship with Marlborough Street.

Teachers have long claimed that the Department is slow to react and resistant to change; now, it seems, they are complaining it wants change too quickly.

AMID all the talk of pay claims and industrial action, the education agenda surfaced only intermittently at the conferences.

The concerns of teachers about pupil indiscipline were only too apparent. Most of the traditional sanctions that used to be available are either banned or frowned upon, leaving teachers with very few options for dealing with unruly students.

Delegates complained the burden of proof had shifted from the pupil to the teacher in indiscipline cases; that principals were afraid to take real action; that the Department was refusing to provide alternative centres for disruptive students. The news that the Minister is planning statutory procedures for complaints against teachers only added to their anger.

Many teachers feel abandoned in their classrooms, unsupported by management, parents or the Department. They feel their commitment in terms of after hours activities and voluntary help has gone unrewarded. This individual disillusionment has now been matched by despondency throughout the profession.

The Department has clearly failed to pick up on this frustration.

The union leaderships had been too preoccupied by the marathon pay talks to come to terms with it fully until now. But for society, there is a clear message: teachers are saying they will not allow all our social problems to be dumped on them.