Teachers should not be offered permanent jobs but ongoing contracts which would only be renewed if they were continuing to do a good job, a forthcoming OECD report is to recommend.
The controversial proposal, which has been strongly rejected by teaching unions, could mean teachers would not be guaranteed a "job for life", but would be required to renew their contracts on a periodical basis.
The OECD suggests a suitable period for this could be every five to seven years.
Speaking after making a presentation to a conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr Paulo Santiago, of the OECD, said one aim would be to ensure teachers had the incentive to continually challenge their skills.
The recommendation is contained in a three-year study on how best to attract, develop and retain teachers in 25 OECD countries, which is to be published next month.
"In many countries, if not most, you get this full job security and with no evaluation. And what we're basically saying is that it's not clear to us whether in this particular situation that teachers actually have any incentives to keep improving," he told The Irish Times.
However, Mr John Carr, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, yesterday rejected the proposal.
"I would be totally opposed to this. My feeling would be that a teacher should commit for life, and that we should do all we can to retain them."
Mr John White, acting general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, also said he opposed the idea.
A spokeswoman for the Minister for Education, Ms Hanafin, said she was unable to comment as she had not seen the report. However issues of conditions for teachers were a matter for the Teachers' Conciliation Council.