The Department of Education has confirmed that thousands of primary schools will lose at least six teaching days this year because teachers are doing in-service training.
Parents' groups have reacted angrily to what they describe as the further erosion of the school year. "Schools are just back and already parents must make special arrangements to cope with these days off," said Ms Fionuala Kilfeather, of the National Parents' Council.
Based on the latest figures, the State has one of the shortest primary school years in Europe, Ms Kilfeather said. However, the INTO said that the Irish primary school year compared favourably with those in most EU countries.
The six days of in-service training are required because the Department is introducing a new primary school curriculum. Some aspects of it have already been phased in, but teachers require training this year in science, which is being introduced for the first time.
Two of the six days are for science. The remainder are for Irish and for social, personal and health education (SPHE). The latter is a new subject which brings together elements of civics, social science and advice on sexual matters.
Responding to the criticism about loss of school time, Mr John Carr, general secretary of the INTO, said that teachers were prepared to undertake professional training outside school hours if they were properly paid for it.
He said that the union had raised the issue with the benchmarking body, but nothing had materialised. The union had a progressive policy on this and was sensitive to the concerns of parents, he added.
Under a programme devised by the Department, primary school children will lose six days in each school year until 2005. Schools are now in the fourth year of this programme. Some schools also lose days because of parent-teacher meetings, school development planning and other events.
Primary schools are obliged to provide students with 183 days of teaching a year. But, due to all these factors, many schools drop well short of this target, Ms Kilfeather claimed.
Mr Carr said that two-thirds of INTO members underwent professional development in their own time. This summer alone, over 2,500 had completed INTO summer courses in areas such as science, the environment and computers. The Irish primary school year was on a par with the school year in New Zealand, Holland, Scotland and the US, he added.
The Department of Education is known to be concerned about the loss of school days. It is expected to address the issue in the context of benchmarking discussions.
Teachers were awarded 13 per cent under benchmarking, but the Department wants to make some of these payments contingent on co-operation with "modernisation". This could mean teachers agreeing to do in-service training outside school hours, although the unions will demand payment for this.