Schools to share teachers from September due to 'critical' shortage

A Red C poll revealed there are unfilled teaching vacancies in almost half of second-level schools. It has led to 80% of principals and deputy principals having to employ unqualified staff. Picture: Andrew Medichini/AP xkv

Schools are to start sharing teachers in high-demand subjects from September, due to a "critical" shortage of second-level staff.

A Red C poll commissioned by the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) this week revealed there are unfilled teaching vacancies in almost half of second-level schools. It has led to 80% of principals and deputy principals having to employ unqualified staff.

Education Minister Norma Foley has now confirmed that a pilot scheme is to be rolled out next September that will allow two schools to work together to recruit teachers.

The sharing scheme would give teachers of high-demand subjects such as Irish, maths, sciences, and modern languages a full-time teaching contract, but this would be split between more than one school.

A Department of Education spokesperson said the pilot scheme will be introduced in a number of schools with the intention of expanding it.

“The department has been in close consultation with the management bodies in the development of this pilot,” they said.

However, representative bodies say the measure is not enough given the severe shortages of staff across the country.

'Minimalist' scheme

The ASTI branded the pilot sharing scheme as a “minimalist measure” with its general secretary Kieran Christie saying Government proposals will not “make a dent” in teacher shortages.

“Because of the practicalities around it, it’s unlikely to have any major impact anywhere in relation to the critical crisis we have in relation to recruitment and retention,” he said.

Mr Christie said the figures revealed by the ASTI survey are “completely stark”, with schools not even receiving applications for job posts in many cases.

“While the measure is worth a try, it won’t have beyond a miniscule impact on the problems that need to be addressed,” he said.

Mr Christie said measures such as this focus on the recruitment issue, and provide little or nothing in relation to retention issues:

We would argue that teachers are leaving their jobs because there is a high level of dissatisfaction in the job.

Mr Christie said that with few promotion opportunities available and the 25-point-long pay scale becoming “more and more” of an issue, "there are much better opportunities both at home in other sectors and abroad in the teaching sector". 

In a bid to plug major teacher shortages, Education Minister Norma Foley has confirmed a suite of measures including a new programme for post-primary teachers to up-skill in Irish, while also considering additional upskilling programmes in other priority subjects.

In a response to Sinn Féin's Éoin Ó Broin, Ms Foley outlined other measures including allowing retired teachers to return to substitute.

Teachers are due to gather for their annual conferences next week, where vacant teaching posts and the struggle to recruit substitutes are expected to dominate the agenda.

Schools say that an ongoing recruitment and retention crisis has made it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies. That has been exacerbated by both the housing and the cost-of-living crisis.

Teaching unions argue that full hours and permanent contracts should be provided to teachers when they graduate, in order to boost recruitment.

At their conferences, national issues such as housing, difficulties sourcing affordable rental accommodation, as well as the education sector's response to the Ukrainian crisis are also due to be discussed.

Class sizes, Leaving Cert reform, curriculum ‘overload’, investment in education, special education, disadvantaged schools, and pay and conditions are also set to feature prominently in discussions.