Primary schools employ up to 1,500 unqualified people in defiance of ban

PRIMARY schools have since September employed up to 1,500 unqualified people to take classes, while an unemployment crisis faces teaching graduates.

Almost half were given at least 10 days’ work in the first eight weeks of term despite a union ban on principals hiring unqualified people. And 741 people employed for at least two weeks up to November 9 include 186 contracted for part-time or full-time work.

The figures provided by the Department of Education under Freedom of Information show the numbers hired as substitutes or on temporary contracts who were not registered with the Teaching Council as qualified primary teachers. They may include some of the hundreds who qualified this year whose council registration was delayed, but a breakdown was not available.