14,000 unqualified teachers employed last year due to shortage

8,871 people who were not registered with the Teaching Council worked 136,109 days in a substitute capacity in primary schools last year. File picture.

More than 14,000 unqualified individuals were employed as teachers last year.

The figures show the challenges facing schools trying to fill vacancies.

Both primary and secondary schools are finding it difficult to find registered teachers to fill in for career breaks and maternity or sick leave.

According to Freedom of Information figures obtained by Newstalk, 8,871 people who were not registered with the Teaching Council worked 136,109 days in a substitute capacity in primary schools last year.

Meanwhile, 5,145 unregistered individuals worked 91,845 days in a substitute capacity in secondary schools.

These figures exclude schools run by Education and Training Boards.

Schools are entitled to employ unregistered teachers in urgent or unforeseen circumstances but they are limited to teaching in a particular school for a maximum of five days and are paid an unqualified rate of pay.

Labour Party TD and spokesman on Education, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, says the situation is unacceptable.

"We have a teacher shortage issue in primary and secondary school and they are being filled by those who are doing their best but are not qualified," said Mr Ó Ríordáin.

What happens then is that children are not getting the same standard of education as they should be getting."

Hiring unqualified people both undermines the children's education and damages the profession, said Mr Ó Ríordáin.

Schools need teachers who have been trained, can understand classroom dynamics and is up-to-date with all the latest developments in education.

"Having short-term measures such as people standing at the top of the classrooms is not a solution and I think the department needs to understand that and fix it."

He said the issue of teacher shortages has been going on for a long time and said there did not appear to be any sense of urgency from the Department of Education to address the problem.

The department says an unregistered person must hold at least a level seven qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications and any unregistered person who is a teacher must be vetted for child-protection reasons.

Research from the Teacher's Union of Ireland, released yesterday, showed that nine out of 10 schools have faced difficulties in hiring new staff.

It also found around three in five schools still have not filled up their positions.