The supervisors drafted in to provide supervision and substitution duties in schools after the ASTI imposed a ban are earning up to €600 per week in many schools.
According to education sources, the Government's contingency plan to keep the schools functioning despite the ASTI ban on supervision has cost an estimated €12 million since the action began on March 4th.
The supervisors, who include many retired teachers and former public servants, earn €34 per hour. They are paid a minimum of €68 for two hours' work per day.
School principals have come to rely on them heavily in recent weeks as language teachers travel to other schools to conduct Leaving Cert oral exams.
Principals have also been using the non-teachers to cover for absent teachers because of the continuing difficulty in recruiting substitute teachers in many subjects.
Hopes were raised this weekend of an end to the supervision crisis after the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) executive recommended acceptance of a revised Department of Education deal.
However, ASTI has ruled out any move to lift the ban until its overall 30 per cent pay claim is settled.
This decision was made by the recent ASTI conference which is the supreme decision-making ASTI body.
Despite this, the ASTI standing committee may come under pressure from some grassroots members to reopen the issue when it meets later this week.
Individual teachers could also opt to defy their union and sign up for the new supervision deal.
The new deal includes three major elements:
€37 per hour for supervision and substitution duties;
a back payment of up to €1,270;
an offer to examine the pensionability of all supervision payments.
Last night, Mr George O'Callaghan, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Board (JMB), called on ASTI to consider the offer. He said it provided a reasonable resolution of the issue for all sides.
The TUI has accepted the revised deal which was agreed late on Friday by its general secretary, Mr Jim Dorney. It is believed the incoming vice-president, Mr Paddy Healy, who has been a prominent opponent of the benchmarking pay review body, was critical of the deal.
The TUI, which rejected the original offer by 55 to 45 per cent, will ballot on the revised offer shortly.
A ballot of INTO member will not be necessary as the union endorsed the Government's original €34 per hour offer.