Analysis: the school year may have just begun, but hundreds of teaching positions are currently unfilled in schools across the country
Teacher shortages are plaguing Ireland as the school year begins. At the end of 2022, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) said teacher shortages had reached 'emergency levels'. Last month the the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) warned schools are under 'enormous strain' as hundreds of teaching positions were still unfilled ahead of the new term. An ASTI survey shared in April found nearly half of secondary schools had teaching vacancies. It found three quarters of the second-level school principals who participated in the survey said they had received no applications for an advertised teaching post or posts in the current school year (2022/2023).
As of September 5, there were more than 600 primary and post-primary positions being advertised on recruitment website educationposts.ie. So why are we experiencing such a severe shortage of teachers?
"I think it's a systemic issue," says Professor Charlotte Holland, Deputy Dean of the DCU Institute of Education. In terms of trying to get teachers in Dublin, it "would be very much related to the housing shortage, in terms of both rental and getting properties to buy. It's difficult if you want to teach in Dublin, and if you’re from outside the area you can’t get accommodation." Post-COVID, there’s newer, anecdotal evidence indicating that more teachers are taking early retirement, adds Holland. "And that has caused a gap in the system and it’s difficult to replace experienced teachers."
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From RTÉ Morning Ireland, Primary school principal forced to send two teachers home despite shortage
A third dimension relates to shortages in certain subjects, particularly in post-primary. One of those subjects is Home Economics and Holland says the implications of closing St Catherine's College of Education at Sion Hill in Blackrock, Co Dublin in 2003 are likely only being felt now. "Home economics is in the top three subjects in terms of teacher shortages - the only teacher education program Home Economics were west of the Shannon for many years. That would primarily have been St Angela's College of Education over in Sligo and more recently in Thurles, Co Tipperary. But there is an acute shortage of Home Economics teachers along the east coast. So that's an example where something was shut down a very long time ago and the implications of that, I think, are probably just being felt now."
In a survey published by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) in October 2022, the findings showed the ten subjects most difficult to employ teachers in were, ranked:
1. Maths
2. Irish
3. Home Economics
4. Chemistry
5. French
6. Construction Studies/Woodwork
7. English
8. Biology
9. Agricultural Science
10. Engineering/Metalwork
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, Evelyn O'Rourke reports on secondary school teacher shortages
"Part of the problem on the ground is that where they've had shortages over the past 20 years, some schools have allowed what is called 'out-of-field' teaching," she says. This might be a teacher qualified in a science subject who ends up teaching mathematics despite not technically being registered with the Teaching Council to do so. In response the Department of Education announced funding for a string of programmes for up-skilling registered post-primary teachers, in subjects like mathematics, physics, Spanish, Irish, and SPHE/RSE.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Dublin school principal Tonya Hanly said she was forced to send home two teachers who were subbing at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Dublin 8 because the Department of Education has said she can't employ them. The Department said under the rules teachers who are on career break can only provide substitute cover for positions that become vacant as a result of maternity or sick leave. The positions that the school needs to fill are all for full-time, fixed-term work.
The two teachers were working at Our Lady of Lourdes last year and had taken career breaks this year with a plan to go to Australia in two months’ time. They are leaving Ireland because they say they cannot afford to live in Dublin. They agreed to work as substitute teachers for a few weeks as the school had been unable to fill vacancies.
Read more: The annual crisis: school places for children with special needs
Hanly told Morning Ireland that despite advertising a number of times for seven positions, she can’t find teachers to fill them: "We advertised about five times. I interviewed three times. I'm on teacher WhatsApp groups. I have gotten on to the teacher training colleges. But I just can’t find teachers," she said. Hanly said all seven vacancies are in the area of Special Education (SET). She said this was because she had been obliged to transfer teachers from these positions in order to ensure she has enough classroom teachers, which means children with special education needs are losing out.
There are currently more than a hundred Special Education Teacher positions at primary level being advertised online. Are SET teachers hard to get? "In the budget for 2022 there was provision made for 620 new allocations of SET teachers in primary and post-primary schools. What happened, I think, is possibly there aren't as many qualified to teach in that space. You have to be a registered teacher but you do need particular training to be appointed as a SET teacher in a school," says Holland. The Department funds training for teachers to work in SET. One of those specialised programmes is run in the School of Inclusive and Special Education in DCU, but places are limited to the funding. There are a small number of additional teachers who choose to pay for it themselves, she adds.
Why do teachers choose to leave Ireland?
We don’t have figures on the numbers leaving Ireland to teach in other countries, but "we do have evidence of them leaving. We know they’re going to the Middle East. Western Australia also incentivises our teachers to go there by paying their flights and maybe accommodation for up to six months. Why might they be going? A whole range of reasons. They may need to get money together to save up for a house - housing in Ireland is incredible expensive. I think, post-COVID, a lot of younger, newly-qualified teachers didn’t get an opportunity to travel," she says.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, review launched of legislation that provides education for children with special needs
Part of the attraction to somewhere like Australia might be the sunshine, but "for many of them, they want to have experience of teaching abroad and that’s something to be valued. People, typically, who have experience of teaching in other jurisdictions, are very effective teachers," she says. The issue is that when those teachers return they come back in at the level they left. Holland suggests teachers who travel abroad and return could be awarded points based on their years abroad and come back at a higher point on the salary scale. "We need something to incentivise those teachers to come back to us."
What can be done in the short term?
There’s an "acute, well-documented shortage" of teachers in the Dublin area, says Holland. "It’s possible the Government may need to consider a Dublin allowance, somewhat like what they have over in London. Of course, the problem is if they provide that for teaching, they’ll probably have to consider providing it to nurses and across the public sector. So there are there challenges in that and I recognise that."
Coming back to Our Lady of Lourdes, where the two teachers weren’t allowed to fill in for full-time positions while on career break, she says when the situation is as critical as it is, it might be useful to have "a little bit more flexibility" on some of the schemes. Holland also suggests more flexibility around teachers who job share, adding that restrictions around job sharing were recently changed to help the shortage of teachers. "Longer term, we do need and more teacher education courses in particular areas, such as Home Economics, particularly for the east coast. But there are particular subject areas at post-primary levels that need to be addressed."
Read more: Is running an Irish primary school a job for a principal or CEO?
The Teacher's Union of Ireland (TUI) President Liz Farrell said in August that schools "are struggling with a very real, severe teacher recruitment and retention crisis, so the time for sticking plaster measures has long since passed." She continued: "It is now time for a completely new approach to teacher recruitment so that Ireland can compete for graduates, who are increasingly looking at international options." Adding "if the Government is serious about tackling this crisis in the medium term, the appropriate, targeted resourcing must be made available in Budget 2024."
A TUI survey of 1,300 members published in April found 40% do not believe they will be in the profession in 10 years' time. In March, the Department of Education announced an additional 320 places were to be provided on primary teacher training courses for the coming academic year, while another 290 places would be created the following year. "One of the things that has come up more recently, and certainly more frequently, is the whole notion of permanent contracts," says Holland. "If they’re one year contracts, how attractive is that to someone? Maybe looking to see can more of the contracts be offered as permanent contracts. And where they have people teaching out-of-field, you need to make sure that’s addressed within the mix of strategies."
"The system is under pressure. To the end of May, this year there were 15,500 Ukrainian students in schools across primary and post-primary and schools will be providing support in that space, as well. The government has been trying to bring down the pupil-teacher ratio and to increase SET provision. So there's a lot of things happening in the system. It’s complex."
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
