Some 35 candidates have put themselves forward for 16 seats on the new Teaching Council, whose members will be elected using the new gender-balanced method.
All registered and fully qualified teachers will be entitled to vote in the elections later this month.
However, at primary and secondary level they must select a candidate of their choice from a male panel of candidates and another from the female panel.
Interestingly, in Dublin, primary teachers will also receive a third ballot, in which they will vote for a candidate of either sex.
The new council, broadly similar to the Medical Council, will supervise and monitor standards in the profession. It will examine the fitness of teachers to teach and, if appropriate, may impose sanctions up to and including deregistration.
Teachers will hold 22 of the 37 seats on the Teaching Council. Sixteen of these will be elected by teachers this month.
The rest will be nominees of the teaching unions, school managers, teacher-training institutions, and parent associations, as well as the Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin.
The list contains a number of well-known candidates, many of whom have been active in the teaching unions for a number of years.
At primary level, 15 INTO members will contest nine places on the council. In Dublin, four candidates will compete for three seats: one male, one female and one open to both sexes.
In both the Connacht & Ulster, and Munster constituencies, candidates will compete for one male and one female seat. There are two male and two female candidates in this area.
However, in Leinster, which has two seats, only one candidate, Ms Eileen Ward, has been nominated for the female seat, meaning she will be elected uncontested.
At second-level, there are seven seats available.
In Leinster, three females and six males will seek two seats, while in Connacht, Munster & Ulster, there is only one female candidate, Ms Lily Cronin, who will be elected uncontested.
But in one of the most fiercely-contested battles of the election, five males will compete for the one remaining male seat here.
In the vocational category, the three candidates will not be elected according to gender, and will compete for two seats. But TUI executive member Mr Patrick McQuaile will be elected uncontested in Leinster.
Meanwhile, in the community and comprehensive sector, ASTI president, Ms Susie Hall, will battle it out against Ms Joan Sheehan of the TUI.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Science said ballots would be issued to teachers by November 12th, with replies expected by November 26th. A final result is expected before Christmas.