Temp work for graduate teachers

Teaching graduates are more likely than most others to have work soon after finishing their studies, but fewer than one in 12 secure permanent contracts in the first nine months after college.

The details emerge in the latest analysis of what graduates are doing nine months after qualifying, which shows that the numbers finding work overseas continues to rise.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) compiled the statistics from a survey to which around two-thirds of graduates from the seven universities and the teacher training colleges responded. It shows some positive signs for the prospects of third-level graduates, including a drop in the proportion who were looking for jobs because they were either working or went on to further study.

HEA chief executive Tom Boland said higher education responses, under the Government’s jobs action plan and Springboard programme, have helped turn unemployment rates around.

“The results of this survey also report promising findings relating to starting salaries of our undergraduate cohort, pointing to the signs of green shoots in the economy and the importance of a higher education qualification,” he said.

Among those who received honours bachelor degrees last year, 51% were working by April 2014, down from 52% a year earlier.

Within this group, numbers working in Ireland fell from 42% to 39%, but those with jobs overseas rose from 10% to 12%.

More encouragingly, the jobs being taken overseas were relevant to their qualification in 64% of cases, compared to 63% of those working in Ireland.

Among all those working with this level of qualification, 45% had an initial salary between €25,000 and €45,000, up from 42% a year ago.

Masters and doctorate graduates had a 73% chance of being in work, and tend to earn more. For example, 22% with a research masters qualification were earning over €45,000.

Among those with teaching qualifications, 84% with a bachelor of education (B Ed) degree — mostly used for primary teaching — had jobs nine months after graduation.

But the number employed in Ireland fell from 86% to 68% in just a year, although last year’s figures did not include the colleges attended by most such graduates. The proportion employed overseas was 16%, or nearly one in six.

However, further breakdowns show that just 4% of last year’s B Ed graduates had permanent contracts in Ireland.

Only 8% of those who received a professional diploma in education — one of the main second-level teaching qualifications — had a permanent contract, although 57% were in part-time or temporary contracts.

While the overall teacher employment rates are higher than those for other graduate groups in the report, it also highlights the difficulties they face securing secure employment. The issue was the subject of a report published in September, whose recommendations are being implemented by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan, meaning a quicker path to permanent positions for teachers on fixed-term contracts and enabling part-time teachers to gain additional hours.