Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 January 2024
42. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Education if her Department is aware of the lack of learning support resources in classrooms due to the shortage of teachers and, as a result, resource teachers having to be redirected to fill the place of the teacher in many classrooms across the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4352/24]
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.
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.
The Department recognises the importance of providing well-timed and appropriate support to pupils with identified learning needs and the crucial role this plays in supporting these students in their educational development.
The Special Education Teaching allocation for mainstream schools provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on the educational needs profile of each school.
Schools are frontloaded with ring-fenced SET resources for the purpose of supporting pupils with an identified and recorded special education learning need. This allocation allows schools to provide additional teaching support for pupils who require such support in their schools based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.
It is a matter for schools to deploy SET resources effectively to meet the needs identified in the Student Support Plans, which should be based on the continuum of support framework. Once the Department allocates SET hours to a school it is the responsibility of the school and the board management to utilise the allocation to meet the needs of those students with special educational needs. Special Education Teaching Hours should only be used for their intended purpose to support pupils with an identified and recorded special education learning need.
The importance in providing regular and structured support on a weekly basis to students with special education needs is crucial to their educational development and long term life prospects and for that reason it is in the interests of these children that all hours allocated to them in the current school year are used as envisaged.
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 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 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.
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.
These new measures are in addition to a range of targeted measures that I have introduced in recent times, including:
• At primary level, 610 additional places have been approved on initial teacher education programmes for this and the next academic year (2023/24 and 2024/25).
• Post-primary teachers can provide up to 35 additional hours of substitute cover per term in the subject they are qualified to teach.
• Restrictions on job-sharing teachers from working as substitutes have been reduced and limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career breaks have also been suspended.
• 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
Teaching remains an attractive career choice in Ireland.
• CAO first preference choices for post-primary teaching increased in 2023 by 14%, in addition to a 9% increase in 2022.
• Starting pay for primary teachers is over €41,000 and for post primary teachers over €42,000 since October under the extension to Building Momentum.
• Over 3,700 newly qualified teachers have registered with the Teaching Council in 2023, with over 122,000 now on the Teaching Council register.
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.
