Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2023
47. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the actions that are being taken by her Department to tackle teacher shortages at primary and secondary school level, including the 740 special educational needs teachers announced in Budget 2024. [45065/23]
View answerEnsuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.
Budget 2024 contains a range of measures that demonstrate my commitment to continued investment in our education system. In addition to numerous actions I have taken in recent years to address teacher supply, a number of specific, targeted measures will be introduced with the new funding provided.
These include a professional masters of education (PME) incentive scheme, funding for additional teacher upskilling programmes, and increasing the number of posts of responsibility.
• A professional masters of education (PME) incentive scheme will be introduced for newly qualified teachers graduating in May 2024. Those newly qualified teachers who graduate with a PME will, subject to some conditions, be eligible for an incentive payment of up to €2,000. This incentive payment will be paid to eligible primary and post-primary teachers in 2025. It will recognise the costs that PME students incur when completing their initial teacher education, assist them with these costs and encourage suitable candidates to consider a career in teaching.
• Additionally, there will be an expansion in the number of upskilling programmes available. These programmes, which are free to teachers, increase the number of teachers who are qualified to teach in-demand subjects and reduce the level of out-of-field teaching. These new upskilling programmes in Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science will be in addition to existing upskilling programmes in maths, physics and Spanish.
• Also, an additional 1,000 posts of responsibility will be provided in the school system for the 2024/25 school year. This is in recognition that school leaders play a key role in improving educational outcomes by creating a positive school climate and environment as well as motivating and empowering educators and learners within their school communities.
Budget 2024 also contains a number of measures designed to help support every pupil and student to thrive at school and realise the full extent of their potential including:
• A 5% increase for the special education budget this year to allow the recruitment of an additional 745 SET posts and 1,216 SNA posts bringing the total number of such posts to more than 41,500.
• This will allow for the opening over 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places.
• A total provision for approximately 2,700 new placements for children with special educational needs in special classes across primary, post-primary and special school settings
These new measures are in addition to a range of targeted measures that I have introduced in recent times, including:
• At primary level, I approved 610 additional places on initial teacher education programmes for this and the next academic year (2023/24 and 2024/25).
• I recently met with the primary teacher initial education providers on continuing existing flexibilities that enable student teachers to support schools, either while on placement, or in a substitute capacity. In 2023, more than 2,700 student teachers registered with the Teaching Council and provided valuable support to schools as substitute teachers.
• Restrictions on job-sharing teachers from working as substitutes have been reduced. These teachers may be employed to work as substitutes during the period they are rostered off duty.
• Limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career break have also been suspended.
• Post-primary teachers can provide up to 35 additional hours of substitute cover per term in the subject they are qualified to teach.
The teacher allocation ratio in primary schools is now at the lowest ever seen at primary level. The average student-per-teacher ratio in primary schools reduced by 10% between 2017 and 2023.Teaching remains an attractive career choice. CAO first preference choices for post-primary teaching increased this year by 14%, in addition to a 9% increase in 2022. While schools in certain locations are experiencing challenges in both recruiting teachers and obtaining substitute teachers, the vast majority of sanctioned teacher positions are filled. The rate of resignation and retirement is very low by any standard, and is consistent with previous years.
My Department continues to engage closely with school management bodies, teacher unions and other education stakeholders to develop further, innovative measures to address teacher supply issues.
