Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 November 2004
73 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of unqualified teachers teaching in schools here; her proposals to remedy this situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30513/04]
View answerThere are 375 unqualified teachers in primary schools in the current school year. There are also 396 secondary trained teachers employed in primary schools. In addition, there are approximately 440 substitute teachers, who, because of the absence of acceptable qualifications, are being paid at the unqualified teacher rate.
The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill vacancies in an individual school is a matter for the board of management of the school concerned. Unqualified teachers should only be employed in exceptional circumstances and when all avenues for recruiting qualified personnel have been exhausted. In this context, my officials have recently written to all primary schools that, on 1 September of the current school year, were employing an unqualified teacher who had worked previously as an unqualified teacher.
The primary sector has experienced a shortage of trained teachers in recent years, mainly as a result of the large number of posts created to reduce class sizes, to cater for pupils in disadvantaged areas and to provide for those with special educational needs. The difficulties being experienced are aggravated by the number of teachers availing of career breaks and job sharing schemes. My Department introduced a range of measures to address the shortage of qualified teachers and I am pleased to say that the number of unqualified teachers in our schools has significantly reduced.
It is important to acknowledge that the colleges of education have done much to increase the output of primary teachers to meet the needs of schools arising from significant additional teacher allocations in recent years. Since 1999, more than 1,000 students have been admitted annually to the B.Ed. programme in the colleges of education. Since the 1995-96 academic year an 18 month post-graduate course has been provided in the colleges of education. The total intake to the colleges of education in the current academic year is circa 1,280 students. This compares with an intake of 500 in 1996-97.
There are currently some 3,500 students enrolled and pursuing various stages of primary teacher training programmes in the colleges of education. In addition, graduates of the new primary teacher training course, which is being accredited by HETAC and delivered by Hibernia College, an on-line third level educational company, will be recognised for the purposes of primary teaching. In addition to increasing the output of graduates, other initiatives have been introduced to increase the number of trained personnel. 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 qualifications, are now recognised as fully qualified. Montessori trained teachers who have successfully completed the full-time course of three years duration at St. Nicholas, Dún Laoghaire, which is recognised by HETAC, or the Montessori qualification which is awarded on completion of the three year full-time course in the AMI College, are recognised as being fully qualified substitute teachers and are recognised to teach in certain categories of special schools, special classes and as resource teachers in primary schools.
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. I am committed to ensuring that the shortage of qualified teachers will be eliminated as speedily as possible and in this context my Department will continue to consider new initiatives and keep existing initiatives under review.
