Teachers have warned that growing violence, defiance and disruption in classrooms is the biggest problem now facing the country's 340 vocational, community and comprehensive schools.
Speaking at the TUI conference in Galway, teachers said the Department of Education will have to consider alternatives to school for the most aggressive and disruptive pupils.
Earlier, the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, announced the creation of 350 new special needs teaching posts in primary schools from September.
Speaking at the INTO conference in Tralee, Mr Dempsey said that children with mild learning disabilities will no longer need to have a psychological assessment to avail of special needs education.
Mr Dempsey told the conference that he did not foresee any reduction in general class size in the near future. The minister said that extra resources would be targeted instead at special needs education and disadvantaged students.
However, the general secretary of the primary teachers' union, John Carr, has urged Mr Dempsey to 'make real his prioritisation of disadvantage'.
