Qualified substitute teachers ‘impossible’ to find, say primary principals

PRIMARY principals claim they cannot find qualified substitute teachers at short notice despite the unemployment crisis facing recent teaching graduates.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn last week announced a strict protocol to be followed by all primary and second-level schools when they need to employ a substitute teacher, starting with keeping a list of qualified registered teachers available in their area. The move is being made in response to anger from teacher unions about the level of unqualified people still being engaged by schools.

But the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) says members are finding it sometimes impossible to find suitable people at short notice.

More than 750 qualified teachers registered on its free TextaSub web-based service are notified of vacancies by text message and the onus is on them to contact the principal of the school which needs a substitute.

More than 1,200 retired teachers were used for substitution by primary schools from September last to the end of March. But IPPN president, Pat Goff, said principals have little option but to employ retired teachers because few, if any, qualified people respond to texts from their service.

“Only this week, when 146 teachers in the immediate Dublin area were alerted that a position was available in a large Dublin school, the principal didn’t receive a single call,” he said.

“Have young unemployed teachers lost the will to look for a job other than the elusive long-term position, or have many reluctantly become another statistic on our ever-lengthening dole queues?” Mr Goff said.

Unions said last week that the new rules are not acceptable because they still allow for the hiring of unqualified people. At the country’s largest training college for primary teachers, St Patrick’s College in Dublin, students’ union vice president, Peter Melrose, said it was hard to be confident of more work for unemployed graduates if the minister is still going to allow schools bring unqualified people in to classes.

But the Joint Managerial Body (JMB) which represents the boards of almost 400 second-level schools said it is not always easy, particularly in rural areas, to find teachers at short notice.

“But if you don’t have a qualified person available, the choice is not to offer the subject or have it taught by somebody with a related qualification. Schools don’t want to take away subject choices from students,” said JMB general secretary, Ferdia Kelly.