The careful choreography of the INTO annual conference was thrown into chaos at lunchtime yesterday when delegates decided to withdraw co-operation with new plans for published school inspection reports.
The inspection reports are due to be published from next June as part of an ambitious plan by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin to address what she calls the "information vacuum" in education.
Ms Hanafin sees the inspection reports as an alternative to the kind of "crude" feeder schools lists and school league tables published by The Irish Times and other newspapers.
She says the school inspection reports - based on what is known as Whole School Evaluation (WSE) - present a rounded picture of all that is going on in schools.
In practice, the Minister presented her plan to publish the inspection reports as a done deal. The decision was made by the time her officials met the teaching unions. These discussions addressed only the procedures governing publication and safeguards to protect the reputation of teachers.
The Minister had little trouble in winning the support of the leadership of the three teaching unions for her plan. They took the pragmatic approach that while published WSE reports were not ideal, they were a much better alternative to league tables.
The unions have also agreed a right of reply procedure where the Department of Education will publish the response to the inspection reports on the website in conjunction with the actual report. This is designed to ensure that every teacher has faith in the fairness of the system.
WSE reports are compiled by Department of Education inspectors. About 300 schools are inspected every year. The inspection reports are regarded as mild and polite in tone.
Under the Hanafin plan, the reports of all schools inspected since February last will be published on the department's website beginning in June. Plans were already well advanced for this - until yesterday's surprise development.
So what is the problem? In essence, INTO delegates expressed concern about what they see as a decision made by the leadership without adequate consultation with members.
Although individual teachers are not named in the inspection reports, some teachers believe they could be identified easily. Those in small schools, in particular, say they could be readily identified and subject to public criticism in a way which is unprecedented in the public service. Yesterday delegates deplored the lack of consultation by the Minister on the issue.
Finbarr O'Driscoll (South Co Dublin) said a fundamental change had been foisted on teachers without consultation. No matter what wording is put on the reports, individual teachers will be identifiable, he said.
"I always believed that our union was there to protect the members' interests," he said.
Adrienne Nolan (North Dublin) said the publication of the reports would only achieve a media frenzy and the publication of league tables.
She pointed out how the majority of INTO members teach in small schools with less than five teachers.
"Therefore we are easily identifiable in these reports and the learning support team, for example, can always be identified," Ms Nolan said.
The Minister decided to proceed with the publication of the inspections despite a Supreme Court ruling, which said that this could lead to the compilation of British-style school league tables, which are specifically banned under the Education Act.
There has been some suggestion that individual teachers might take legal action to prevent publication - if they believed their reputation was going to be damaged by publication.
But this week, Ms Hanafin said she did not envisage any legal problem.
Yesterday's development, however, does represent a setback. The issue is now likely to be forwarded to the teacher conciliation council for discussion.
The INTO has now been specifically mandated not to co-operate with WSE until all the issues about publication are resolved.
A surprised INTO executive will also meet shortly to consider the problem. But there seems little prospect of an early resolution.