One in five teachers were threatened or intimidated by students and most had their classes seriously disrupted during one week in Irish schools last month - according to a survey of over 1,000 teachers.
The survey reveals what many parents will see as a disturbing level of violence, bullying and disruption.
Some 21 per cent of teachers witnessed physical violence by students on a fellow pupil during the week in question.
Some 50 per cent of teachers reported bullying by students of classmates.
Some 63 per cent of teachers were at the receiving end of "unacceptable impertinence and defiance" by students.
Some 77 per cent said their classes were seriously disrupted by students talking and shouting out of turn.
The confidential survey was completed by the Teachers Union of Ireland among 1,100 teachers and 58 schools - with a total of 28,377 pupils - last month.
Declan Glynn, the union's assistant general secretary said the survey - which is unprecedented in its scope - reveals "a near crisis, which is worsening in Irish classrooms".
The survey reveals, for the first time, how indiscipline is undermining the teaching environment. Over 70 per cent of teachers who experienced violence or intimidation said it disrupted teaching to a "major extent".
They said that it took at least 10 minutes of class time just to deal with one incident of serious indiscipline.
Some 50 per cent of the teachers surveyed say discipline is a serious or a very serious problem in Irish education.
Second-level teacher unions say classroom disruption, intimidation and violence is now the biggest issue facing teachers. Tomorrow, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin will launch the report of a departmental task force on student discipline.
The TUI wants the task force to back radical legal changes giving more powers to schools and making it easier to suspend and expel persistent offenders.
Ms Hanafin says the task force will address the discipline problem forcefully but some critics in the teaching unions say it may do little to bring real change to the classroom. Teachers from every region contributed to the survey which mirrors the population spread. Some 31 per cent of the schools surveyed were in the Dublin area.
The survey also reports the huge level of every day stress endured by teachers as they deal with troublesome students. Some 44 per cent said they were "quite or completely stressed" from dealing with the problem.
