New teachers may not get jobs for a decade

Some newly qualified secondary school teachers will have to put up with being employed on an hour-by-hour basis for at least the rest of this decade because of the crisis in the country.

That was the claim made by Pat King, the general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, during his address to delegates in Wexford.

Emphasising the plight faced by the latest generation of teachers, he said Ireland was falling far behind other nations when it came to giving them employment.

As such, he said, children in this country will be the ones who are ultimately worst affected as those leaving college are given few options to work in their homeland.

“For the great majority, the first five to 10 years of their teaching ‘career’ consists of part-time, temporary, or substitute work. Moving from school to school, county to county.

“A huge number of our young teachers have no idea where, or if, they will be working next September.

“Only a handful obtain full-time permanent employment positions in their first year. The majority are employed on a temporary or an hours basis for at least five years, and more. This impact cannot be overstated.”

Mr King said the situation is causing further problems as young people are becoming “less attracted to teaching”, making reform to tackle the problem an absolute priority.

“It is vital the union continues to campaign for and prioritise these issues for the sake of the teaching profession.”