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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 24 May 2001

Vol. 537 No. 1

Adjournment Debate - School Staffing.

Mr. Hayes

None of us should be surprised at the crisis that has arisen in the primary school sector in respect of providing enough teachers to teach in our schools. The situation has reached epidemic proportions over the last 12 months and schools in disadvantaged areas are now crying out for teachers. This should become the priority issue for the Minister for Education and Science.

Despite the fact that the recruitment problem in schools was signposted as a major difficulty ten years ago, almost no work has taken place in the Department of Education and Science to respond to this crisis. The increasing intake of students into the primary sector over the last ten years has not been met with a radical increase in the number of primary school teachers coming into the school system. We have not learned the lesson of considerable demographic change that has occurred in recent years. This issue can no longer be ignored and I call on the Minister for Education and Science to take an initiative and stem the haemorrhage of teachers from schools.

School principals, boards of management and teacher representatives want action from the Government to ensure that every child's right to a basic education can be vindicated. The following example of a school in a disadvantaged community highlights the extent of the problem. St. Thomas's school in Jobstown, Tallaght, has a total teacher allocation of 32 full-time teachers. Despite this allocation, the school has been unable to attract a full complement of teachers in each of the past three years. There are currently 25 qualified teachers, five untrained teachers and two unfilled positions in the school.

Since Christmas, it has advertised for teachers on two separate occasions without receiving even one reply. Since February 1999, 23 qualified teachers have left the school to move to other schools or to change their profession entirely. The experience of this school is not dissimilar to many other schools in what can be described as disadvantaged communities. I accept that the problem of attracting and keeping primary school teachers in schools is not exclusive to communities where there is a high ratio of low income families. However, regardless of whether a school is in a disadvantaged area, it is not acceptable that unqualified substitute teachers can represent an increasing proportion of the total teaching staff.

A special package of measures should be introduced for teachers who are working in some of the most deprived communities in the country. Specifically, I call on the Department of Education and Science to provide a special allowance for teachers who teach in disadvantaged communities. This principle is already established in respect of the island allowance, which is a designated financial incentive to teachers who teach on our islands. If a special case can be made for island communities, it should be also made for disadvantaged areas.

The Department should give some recognition to teachers who continue teaching in a disadvantaged school for a continuous five year period. I would not oppose a measure that would give such teachers half a year's unpaid leave as a way of recognising the huge pressures they face in their daily work. Teachers in these and other communities frequently act as tutor, parent, social worker and adviser and their role must be recognised.

The Department must show more flexibility in the application of general rules to schools in disadvantaged communities. The status of a disadvantaged school is now spread so thinly on the ground that it is impossible to indicate any improvement in resources. Has the special committee on schools in disadvantaged communities, as set out in the Education Act, been established by the Department? It is time to recognise that the exodus of teachers who work in schools in deprived communities should be responded to in the form of a Government initiative. This problem will not go away and some of the proposals I have outlined could help in the ongoing battle to staff schools with well qualified and motivated school teachers.

I am glad the Deputy has given me the opportunity of outlining to the House my Department's current position regarding the matters outlined above. The Minister is aware that a number of primary schools are experiencing some difficulties in recruiting qualified teachers in the current school year. This has arisen because of two main factors. First, the Government has increased demand for teachers generally by creating extra posts to reduce the pupil/teacher ratios and increase support for children with a disability or disadvantage. Since taking office this Government has created an extra 2,315 teaching posts. The creation of these posts has exacerbated the supply situation. Second, the number of trained teachers graduating from our training colleges had fallen to a very low level, for example, only 291 graduated in 1995.

The Government has taken effective action to boost substantially the supply of trained primary teachers and alleviate these difficulties. The total intake to the colleges of education for primary teaching in the 1999-2000 academic year was increased to 1,283. This compares with an intake of 500 in 1996-97. There are approximately 1,000 students again enrolled in the first year of the undergraduate training course in the 2000-01 academic year. A further post graduate course commenced in February this year with an intake of 280 students, bringing the total to 1,280.

The intake to the undergraduate training course for primary teachers will continue at the current level of 1,000 for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 academic years. In addition, negotiations are taking place with the colleges of education for the provision of a further postgraduate course next year. The intake to them will be reviewed on an ongoing basis taking account of enrolment trends and changes in demand requirements.

Between the 2000 and 2001 academic years it is projected that approximately 1,900 qualified primary teachers will graduate from the colleges of education. This represents a huge increase in the number of trained graduates as compared with 1995 when 291 graduated. Other initiatives to increase the number of trained personnel have also been introduced. B. Ed graduates of St. Mary's College, Belfast, who have studied Irish to honours level as an academic subject as part of their teaching qualification are now recognised as fully qualified. Since September 1998, all primary degree holders who hold the higher diploma in education are paid as fully trained substitute teachers. In the current academic year teachers employed in a temporary capacity holding a degree and the higher diploma in education are paid on the trained basic scale for teachers.

Teachers trained in EU countries employed in primary schools are now remunerated at the trained rate pending their obtaining the necessary competence in the Irish Language. EU trained teachers previously had to acquire the necessary competence in the Irish language within three years of their first appointment to a primary school. They now have up to five years to obtain the necessary competence in the language. In addition, for the period of two years, from 1 September 2000, teachers trained outside the EU whose qualifications are accepted by my Department will be granted provisional recognition for five years on the same basis as EU trained teachers. Montessori trained teachers who successfully completed the course of three years duration at St. Nicholas, Dún Laoghaire, which is recognised by the NCEA, are also recognised as being fully qualified substitute teachers.

The decision to recognise fully qualified teachers who trained outside the State to teach in certain categories of schools and classes without the necessity to hold an Irish language qualification is also contributing to an improvement in the supply of trained primary teachers. Other factors exacerbating the shortage at present are the introduction of the early retirement scheme under the PCW agreement and the availability of career breaks and job-sharing to teachers.

Primary teachers are employed by the boards of management of schools. As employers, boards have the authority to refuse teachers career breaks or job-sharing to teachers in their schools if they wish. There are currently 950 teachers on career break.

With regard to the high turnover of teachers in schools designated as disadvantaged, the difficulties with teacher shortage and teacher movement are not confined to disadvantaged schools alone. There is no firm evidence to indicate that the problem of obtaining fully qualified teachers in primary schools is confined to areas classified as disadvantaged alone. I am confident that the measures that the Government has taken as outlined will help to ensure that the current difficulties being experienced by schools will be resolved.

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