Secondary teachers have passed an emergency motion at their annual conference calling for the renegotiation of the pay element of the recent social partnership agreement Towards 2016.
Delegates at the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) conference in Sligo unanimously backed the motion.
However, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said the Government had no intention of renegotiating the agreement, and the issue of pay for second level teachers could be dealt with in the context of the State's benchmarking system.
Class sizes and discipline are the main focus of the three teaching unions' annual conferences today.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and the Teachers' Union of Ireland, are holding their conferences in Cork, Sligo and Donegal respectively.
Mary Hanafin
Addressing the INTO conference in Cork this morning, Ms Hanafin defended the Government's record on education, saying: "I have been honest about what would be possible within the lifetime of the current Government.
"More teaching posts is an absolutely essential part of helping all of our children to achieve more in education," she said.
The Minister repeated the promise that if returned the Government would continue to reduce class sizes until it reach a maximum of 24 students.
Ms Hanafin said: "5,000 extra primary teachers have been put in place since 2002, and while putting all of those posts into classroom teaching would have done a lot for class size, I still believe that targeting children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas in the first instance was the right thing to do.
"It wasn't the political thing to do, it wasn't the easy option, but it was the right choice," she said.
The Minister also vowed to significantly improve information and communication technology facilities in schools and help teachers to improve the position of the Irish language.
"It is essential that your work is built on at second level, so that our young people can be well able to converse in Irish by the time they leave school," she said.
Mary Hanafin
Population growth, diversity, inclusion and technological change are making the agenda of Irish primary education more challenging than ever, Ms Hanafin said.
The Minister will address the other teacher conferences later in the week.
Fine Gael's Education Spokeswoman Olwyn Enright called on the Minister to outline how she intends to ensure a sufficient supply of teachers to meet her "re-hashed commitment on class sizes.
"In light of the FF/PD Government's abysmal performance in providing new school buildings, perhaps she should also tell us what type of accommodation these teachers will work from," Ms Enright said.
Labour's Jan O'Sullivan also criticised the Minister calling her plan's to reduce class sizes a "totally unrealisable commitment".
Ms O'Sullivan said the Minister had "clearly panicked" into committing to unrealistic promises ahead of the General Election.