Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
597. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education the secondary subjects with the highest number of vacant teacher posts, such as metalwork, woodwork, Spanish, computer science and so on, from one to ten, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18099/23]
View answerThe recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for individual school authorities, subject to procedures agreed upon under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012). My Department does not currently collate data on vacant posts in post-primary schools per subject.
The recruitment of teachers is a priority area of action for the Department given the importance of ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have available to them qualified, engaged, and supportive teachers to support them in their learning.
My Department is undertaking a comprehensive programme to support the supply of post-primary teachers, including:
• As a temporary measure, post-primary teachers can provide additional hours of substitute cover in the subject they are qualified to teach. The number of additional hours that can be taught per term has been increased from 20 to 35 for the remainder of the 2022/23 school year.
• For 2022/23, higher education institutions have introduced flexibility in the delivery of initial teacher education programmes to allow student teachers to provide more substitute cover.
• The Teaching Council introduced regulations allowing for the registration of 3rd and 4th-year undergraduate student teachers under registration Route 5 (Student Teachers). More than 2,700 student teachers have registered under route 5 to date. This initiative supports the employment of student teachers to cover substitutable vacancies.
• A waiver of abatement for retired teachers returning to teach for up to 50 days in each of the three calendar years, 2021 to 2023 inclusive has been agreed upon with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
• For 2022/23, job-sharing teachers may be employed to work in a substitute capacity during the period they are rostered off, in their own or in other schools, and the limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career break have also been suspended.
• The Department provided details of the staffing arrangements for the 2023/24 school year to schools before the end of January. This will facilitate schools to begin recruitment for the 2023/24 school year earlier than in 2022.
• Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) who qualify outside Ireland may now complete induction (Droichead) in Ireland under a new measure implemented by the Teaching Council. This measure seeks to enhance the supply of NQTs available to schools.
Measures targeted at supporting the long-term supply needs of the system have also been put in place.
• The Department has increased the number of places on post primary teacher upskilling programmes in mathematics, Spanish and physics. The programmes are delivered outside of class time and are offered at no cost to the teacher. Approximately 170 places were provided in the first intake across the three programmes with an increase in places to over 300 in 2023.
• A new programme for post-primary teachers to upskill in Irish is planned for commencement in 2023/2024. The Department is also considering additional upskilling programmes in other priority subject areas.
• The Department introduced a scheme to allow post-primary schools to share teachers, the aim of which is to recruit teachers in high-demand subjects and give teachers a full-time teaching contract. It is expected that a pilot of the scheme will be introduced in a number of locations for the 2023/24 school year.
In addition to the above measures, the Teaching Transforms campaign continues to promote the teaching profession and encourage students to follow a career in teaching. The campaign uses digital, radio and video media, and is supported by a dedicated webpage, www.gov.ie/teachingtransforms. It should be noted that CAO first preference choices for post-primary teaching have increased this year by 11%.
The Department meets on a regular basis with school management bodies and teacher unions on this very important issue and we will continue to work intensively with all stakeholders to develop and implement creative solutions to address the teacher supply challenges for schools.
