As thousands of children around the country prepare to return to school this week, the Teachers Union of Ireland has said it will consider industrial action if a solution is not found to the "intolerable" discipline situation in schools.
Mr Paddy Healy, president of the TUI, said it believed successive pieces of legislation meant that persistently disruptive pupils were "largely immune" from any serious sanction.
The TUI would be holding a special meeting of its members in November to discuss school indiscipline, and was not ruling out industrial action if the matter was not addressed.
"There is an imbalance of rights between willing learners, teachers and disruptive students. Teachers routinely deal successfully with disruptive behaviour as part of the job. We are grateful to the vast majority of parents who assist us in maintaining school discipline," Mr Healy said.
"However, there is a significant minority of persistently disruptive students whose behaviour is often condoned by unwise or dysfunctional parents."
The TUI was determined to take "urgent action" on this matter, he said.
"We intend to deem failure to implement codes [of discipline] to be a grievance under industrial relations procedure. After all procedures have been exhausted, we will consider industrial action if a remedy is not provided.
"We will continue to demand the additional teaching resources and support services, including a comprehensive schools psychological service, to help us to ameliorate the problem.
"However, we are no longer prepared to await the provision of such resources.
"We intend to ensure that a reasonable learning environment is maintained in schools so that the rights of the majority of students and the health and safety of teachers and students are protected," Mr Healy said.
Meanwhile, the National Parents Council (primary) has called on parent associations to consult with parents, children and their school community to see if a plan can be put in place to allow most children to walk, or cycle, safely to school.
In a statement, it said parents had been expressing their concern to the NPC regarding recent reports about the increasing numbers of Irish children who were unfit and overweight.