The time teachers spend in Irish classrooms is among the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a confidential document from the three main teaching unions here has claimed.
In a joint response to a controversial Department of Education submission to the public service benchmarking body, they claim that Irish second level teachers are required to spend up to 74 hours more each year in the classroom than their OECD counterparts.
Irish primary level teachers also spend 120 hours more than their OECD counterparts, the document says.
The response does not make reference to claims that, at 167 days of instruction, Irish second level students have the shortest school year in the world. But it rejects as "simply not true" the contention by the Department of Education that secondary teachers here teach less hours each year than elsewhere.
It says that the 2005 OECD data referred to by the department in making this claim - contained in its recent publication, Education at a Glance - reflects teaching hours that students receive, not the number of hours that teachers teach.
Similarly, the response says additional work done by teachers is also not included in the statutory working time in Ireland, unlike in other countries.
The response says that the same OECD research has shown that the State's secondary teachers spend a minimum of 31 hours and a maximum of 74 hours more in the classroom than their OECD counterparts. At primary level, they teach 120 hours more.
"Throughout the department submission there are references to what is the norm in the private sector," it adds. "[This] approach does not compare like with like. A school is not profit driven - its purpose is quite different."