asked the Minister for Education if he will state (1) the number of national teachers trained within the last six years who have been unable to secure permanent employment; (2) what action has been taken or will be taken following the representations of a delegation of unemployed teachers who cycled from Cork and Kerry last summer to lay their case before the Minister; and (3) seeing that the number of national teachers, so unemployed, is being substantially increased each year he will state what steps are being taken to stop young men from entering for training while their hopes of securing employment are practically nil.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployed Teachers.
(1) The number of teachers who left the training colleges in the years 1932/37 (inclusive) who, on the 30th September last, were not engaged in teaching in national schools, or were employed only as substitute teachers, was, so far as my Department is aware, 285 men and 259 women. Of these 92 men and 166 women completed their training course in June of this year. A considerable number of those now unemployed will, however, in the ordinary course, secure posts before the end of the present school year.
(2) I cannot at the moment say what measures, apart from restriction of recruitment, it may be found possible to take to ameliorate the existing position, but the whole question is at present being carefully examined in my Department.
(3) Measures to restrict, as far as possible, the output of trained teachers are being taken, and will continue to be taken, so long as there is an excess of teachers available. As far as laymen are concerned, the reduction in the admissions to training is considerable as is shown by the numbers who completed their training course in each of the past five years as follows:
|
1933 |
171 |
|
1934 |
155 |
|
1935 |
124 |
|
1936 |
108 |
|
1937 |
87 |
A reduction in the number of the admissions to the women's training colleges has been effected this year.
The scheme under which pupil-teachers were appointed was discontinued after the 1st August, 1936, and it has been recently decided that, in 1938, and until further notice, the open competitive examination for admission to the training colleges will be suspended for both men and women, the admission of graduates will be discontinued, and the examination for qualification as junior assistant mistresses will not be held. Only those lay-students who are already being prepared, for the teaching profession, i.e., preparatory college students and the last group of pupil-teachers will, accordingly, enter training in 1938, and in 1939 and subsequent years, so long as the circumstances require, the number of lay-students admitted to the training colleges will be considerably less than the number of teachers normally required to fill the vacancies in national schools.