Officials looking at Covid-19 regulation to get more teachers

Minister for Education Norma Foley confirmed talks are underway to reintroduce legislation that will help with teacher supply issues.

Officials at the Department of Education are currently looking at reintroducing a Covid-19 emergency regulation that removed some of the red tape around teachers who qualified outside Ireland in a bid to ease teacher supply issues.

The measure, which allowed teachers who qualified outside Ireland to register here without completing induction where they qualified, could help make it easier for those who qualified in Northern Ireland and the UK to teach here.

However, the standard Irish language requirement would still apply to the registration of primary teachers.

Currently, fully qualified teachers who qualified outside of Ireland are eligible to register with the Teaching Council, with applications processed in line with an EU Directive.

A fully qualified teacher is seen as someone who completed a recognised teacher education qualification and any required programme of induction or period of post-qualification employment in the country where they qualified. In England, new teachers are required to complete a two-year induction period.

Covid-19 Amendment Regulation

However, due to the “exceptional circumstances” caused by the pandemic, the Teaching Council introduced an intervention called the Covid-19 Amendment Regulation (CAR) on an emergency basis. 

Under CAR, the Teaching Council accepted applications from eligible primary and post-primary teachers who qualified outside of the Republic but who had not completed the required period of induction.

Education Minister Norma Foley confirmed the re-introduction of the measure is under consideration.

“To ease teacher supply challenges in the context of the current health situation, the Teaching Council in conjunction with the Department of Education are currently engaging on the re-introduction of this amendment regulation.

“Any updates with regard to additional registration pathways will be published on the Council’s website over the coming weeks,” she added.

Recruitment

Teachers’ unions have called for a range of measures to help tackle the ongoing recruitment and retention issues in education, including offering new teachers here a redeployment scheme and permanent contracts early in their careers.

A survey of 100 post-primary schools in October last year by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) found that almost all (91%) reported experiencing difficulties recruiting teachers over the past six months.

“There is no single magic bullet here,” said TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie. “There is a whole range of things that need to be done to keep teachers in the system and to encourage teachers to stay.” 

There are currently no promotional posts for middle-management jobs, which some may prefer over a principal role. 

“There’s nothing in the middle to keep teachers so they’ll vote with their feet or go to jurisdictions where they can do that.”