The new national wage agreement is unlikely to contain any form of individualised performance-related pay, which has raised the threat of industrial action by two of the three teacher unions.
The deal will, however, require schools to draw up a plan every year and, while these will include certain targets or benchmarks, they will not relate to the pay of individual teachers.
Despite this, there is anger in some sections of the ASTI and TUI that a 5.5 per cent "early settlers" pay claim does not look like being granted.
According to the teacher union sources, who have been briefed on the outline of the agreement, it will include a figure of 3 per cent instead.
The "early settlers" issue arises because teachers settled early in the last national pay round and claim they have fallen behind other public sector groups. According to the unions there is also anger that the 3 per cent figure will not apply retrospectively.
It is understood that the standing committee of the ASTI, which voted recently to pull out of the national pay talks, is to meet later this week to consider its response.
A fortnight ago, its central executive committee passed a motion which stated that if the Government did not pay the 5.5 per cent involved in the "early settlers", its members would be balloted for industrial action.
Last night sources said the mood among members was still in favour of some form of industrial action, but it was too early to offer a definitive opinion.
The president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), Mr Joe Carolan, said his union would meet when it received a copy of the completed document. However, he said he was disappointed by reports that only 3 per cent would be paid out as part of the "early settlers" issue.
He said parts of the agreement that resembled or were similar to performance-related pay would have to be studied carefully. The union continued to be strongly opposed to any performance-related pay system.
The agreement is likely to include a provision for a review where public-sector groups which fall behind equivalent private-sector workers can open up the agreement again and have their case reviewed. This mechanism might make teachers warm towards the final deal, according to some sources.