Talks aimed at averting a third day of strike action by Secondary school teachers are to take place today.
The TUI and the ASTI are meeting with officials from the Department of Education in an effort to resolve the row over Junior Cert reform.
Ahead of the talks Unions say there is still some distance between the two sides
Last week, 27 thousand members of the TUI and ASTI held a second day long strike, in protest at changes to the junior cycle.
Last Thursday, around 350,000 secondary school students were forced to stay at home as their teachers took to the picket lines for a second time.
The Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan says she has already moved on the issue of teachers marking their own students exams for the Junior Cycle, with the requirement now down to 40 percent, rather than the 100 percent intially proposed.
However unions say there is still some distance between the sides.
Dr Pauric Travers will again chair the talks.
The ASTI and TUI say they'll hold further industrial action in coming weeks if there's no breakthrough.
