The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has warned that it may pull out of exam work if the Department of Education recruits non-teachers to mark this year's exams.
The Department placed an advertisement in national newspapers this week looking for assistant examiners in one Junior Certificate subject and in the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.
A Department spokeswoman said the advertisement was a "general trawl" for examiners in those subjects, but was not linked to the current Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) dispute.
She said the Department would try to use qualified teachers first, but if it did not have enough examiners in those subjects it might use other qualified people, including students.
The TUI president, Mr John McGabhann, said any use of "inappropriate" personnel would put the TUI in dispute with the Department. He said using students or professional people to mark certain papers would compromise the exams' integrity.
Meanwhile, the ASTI is expected to resume talks in the Labour Court this week. Officials are attempting to address its 30 per cent pay claim.