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.

The total number of days worked by those not fully registered as primary teachers is around 15,000.

The statistics are embarrassing for the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn as they show poor compliance with strict directives to schools, from both parties, that priority be given to qualified teachers when filling temporary vacancies.

The INTO directed all 30,000 members not to work with unqualified people employed as teachers from this September in a campaign to ensure work goes to 2,000 primary teachers who qualified this summer and thousands more seeking work.

In May the minister set out rules giving priority to qualified teachers, including retired teachers if no other qualified person can be found.

Up to 260 retired primary teachers worked around 1,400 days this year.

A spokesperson for the department said: “We will be monitoring the situation, doing random checks and following up with individual schools where there appears to be an issue.” INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said: “If there is a problem then the minister must take action.”