Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
212. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Education her plans to end the unequal remuneration of new entrants in the teaching profession as a key step in addressing shortages of teaching staff; her further plans to end the teaching shortage; if all such measures have been agreed with the teaching unions concerned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38560/21]
View answerThe matter of new entrant pay is a cross sectoral issue, not just an issue for the education sector alone. The Government supports the gradual, negotiated repeal of the FEMPI legislation, having due regard to the priority to improve public services and in recognition of the essential role played by public servants. The total year one cost of equalising the pay of new entrant teachers to the pre-2011 arrangements is estimated to be in the region of €59 million per annum in year one (€45 million for full resolution of pay scales and €14 million for re-instatement of the H.Dip allowance). The costs would rise in subsequent years as more new entrants join the system.
In recent years, National Pay Agreements have seen improvements in relation to teacher pay. In September 2018, an agreement was reached between the Government and the public services committee of ICTU in respect of new entrant pay. This agreement is benefitting 18,000 teachers and nearly 5,000 SNAs within the education sector. The deal provides for a series of incremental jumps for new entrants. More recently in February 2021 the new public service pay agreement, Building Momentum, was agreed following formal discussions between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Public Services Committee of ICTU, with consultation and input from the sectors including my Department. There is a specific provision in relation to new entrant teacher pay which allows for the skipping of Point 12 of the pay scale which is a further improvement in pay for new entrant teachers. This measure will build on a previous provision which allowed for the skipping of points 4 and 8 on the post-2011 pay scale and will resolve in full the remaining salary scale issues pertaining to new entrant teachers.
This builds on the series of restorative measures for new entrants have been achieved through the various pay agreements. It shows the benefits that continued engagement and collective bargaining between the Government and the public service unions can bring.
With regard to the issue of Teacher Supply more generally, management bodies and schools have, in recent years, reported difficulties in recruiting teachers. At primary level this relates mainly to the recruitment of substitute teachers and at post-primary to the recruitment of teachers of particular subjects (e.g. STEM, modern foreign languages, Irish, Home Economics) as well as substitute teachers.
In March 2018, my Department established the Steering Group on Teacher Supply. This Group is leading on the identification of the issues, the development of a programme of actions on teacher supply and the oversight of its implementation. Following this, the Teacher Supply Action Plan was published in November 2018 containing a range of actions in four policy areas identified through the work of the Steering Group and engagement with stakeholders. Actions in the Teacher Supply Action Plan included:
- The development by the Department of a data-based model to project teacher demand and supply for both primary and post-primary sectors. The latest updated report ‘Developing a Teacher Demand and Supply Model for Ireland 2021-2038 – A Technical Report’, resulting from this work is available at developing-a-teacher-demand-and-supply-model-for-ireland-2021-2038-a-technical-report.pdf (education.ie)
- Engagement with the HEA, resulting in a number of HEIs commenced new post-primary ITE undergraduate 4-year programmes in 2019 and 2020 in priority subject areas, including mathematics, modern foreign languages and Irish. More new undergraduate post-primary ITE programmes are also planned to commence in 2021.
- Collaboration between the HEA, on behalf of the Department, and ITE providers on programmes to upskill registered teachers in targeted post-primary subjects (Spanish, mathematics and physics), to be delivered over two years on a part-time, flexible basis. The Department has agreed to fund two intakes to the programmes, in January 2021 and January 2022. Approximately 160 places will be provided for in each intake across the three programmes.
- A promotional campaign, Teaching Transforms, has been ongoing since late 2018 to promote the teaching profession and encourage post-primary and third-level students to apply for programmes of initial teacher education. The various phases of the campaign have used a range of channels, including digital (online video and social media), radio (traditional and digital) and print (national papers and college press) and are aligned to key dates in the educational calendar.
For the 2020/21 school year, a number of measures have been put in place, including a restriction on the number of days that teachers on career break may be employed as substitute teachers has been suspended and a restriction on job sharing teachers undertaking additional substitution hours has been suspended.
Additional funding of €1m has also been made available for the Student Assistance Fund for Professional Master of Education (PME) students for 2020/2021. I intend to publish an updated Action Plan in the coming months with new and continuing actions across the four policy areas. Following the success of the upskilling programme Minister Harris and I announced, earlier this year, the intention to expand the numbers on the existing programmes and to also issue a call for a new upskilling programme in the subject of Irish, to commence in the 2021/22 school year.
From the outset, consultation with educational partners and stakeholders has been a central feature of the teacher supply process. In this regard, a number of national consultative forums, involving all relevant stakeholders, and regional focus groups for teachers, principals and parents have been held. Regular consultation also takes place with the teacher unions.
