The Minister for Education is expected to announce a radical review of teacher training in his speeches to the teacher union conferences this week.
Mr Martin will also outline measures to deal with teacher shortages at primary level, including an increase in the intake to training colleges. He will make announcements on early school leaving, the number of students going on to third level, and remedial provision in primary schools.
As is customary, he will address all three conferences: the INTO in Ennis, the ASTI in Tralee and the TUI in Galway.
Mr Martin is known to be concerned at the appropriateness of some of the teacher training currently carried out in the universities and training colleges, at a time when new technologies are changing Ireland into a "knowledge-based" society.
Recent years have seen the transformation of the second-level curriculum - with the introduction of the Leaving Certificate Applied, the Leaving Certificate Vocational and many new subjects - and the preparation of a new primary curriculum. However teaching methods as taught in the colleges have changed relatively little in 30 years.
Mr Martin will announce separate reviews of teacher training for primary and second-level schools, both to report within six months.
Currently primary teachers do a three-year B.Ed. course at one of five training colleges in Dublin and Limerick. 85 per cent of primary teachers are trained by St Patrick's College in Dublin and Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.
There is concern that there is not enough teaching practice built into current courses, and an expectation that the primary review group will recommend a four-year B.Ed. degree for primary teachers to allow more time for student placements in schools.
At second level, there is concern that the H.Dip course which graduates take in universities may be both outdated and inadequate in terms of classroom teaching practice.
Almost 75 per cent of second-level teacher training is provided by the universities. However standards vary considerably, with the courses at Maynooth and UCC considered relatively up-to-date, whereas those at TCD and UCD are seen as in need of significant overhaul.
The review group may recommend a longer period of second-level teacher training, for example a doubling of the present nine-month course to 18 months.
Department of Education sources suggested another change might be to weight entry to H.Dip courses towards requirements in particular subjects like maths, science and Irish where there are teacher shortages.
Mr Martin is also expected to promise to make capital available to the training colleges for updating buildings and equipment. Some colleges like St Patrick's in Dublin have not had any significant capital investment for many years.