Parents will have to plan for six in-service training days during the school year, in addition to regular school holidays.
But parents can only expect late notice of school closures because education centres through the State cannot provide a detailed timetable, it has emerged.
In recent days, some parents have raised concerns about the staggered start to the school year, which appears to contradict the common school year agreed between the Department of Education and the teachers' unions three years ago.
But the department pointed out last night that the agreement does not cover school openings. Schools are allowed some flexibility and this is why some schools will not open until next Monday, while others have been open since early this week.
The standardised school year fixes the dates for Christmas and Easter holidays and mid-term breaks.
As for in-service days, the department said primary teachers will complete seven days during this school year, six involving the new revised primary curriculum and one for school development planning.
School closures for in-service training are less common at second level. Individual teachers may undergo in-service training on particular subjects but this does not usually lead to school closures.
Last night a spokesperson for the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, said she was very anxious that parents be given the best possible advance notice of school closures, to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.
Most primary schools will open on Friday, September 1st, the traditional first day of the school year.
Last night, the INTO said arrangements for teacher in-service training are, in general, outside the control of schools.
"Schools are given dates and details of these days by local education centres often some weeks before the training takes place. Schools inform parents of these days as soon as they are informed by the education centres."
The INTO says there are no in-service days planned until the end of September.
The INTO general secretary, John Carr, said although he recognised that the curriculum training days were somewhat inconvenient for some parents in terms of scheduling childcare arrangements, they were of huge benefit to the education system.
"It is a small price to pay in terms of improving the quality of the curriculum delivered to children in schools. Through these days a completely new curriculum in primary schools has been introduced."
But he said the days were the bare minimum required and represented only a fraction of the time that teachers had put into preparing for the revised curriculum.
"The majority of primary teachers undertake courses during their holidays or in their own time outside of school hours," he said. He added that this summer alone, two-thirds of primary teachers had attended week-long courses on the curriculum or special-needs teaching.
