Schools still trying to recruit hundreds of teachers ahead of new school year

An ASTI/RED C survey published earlier this year found unfilled teaching vacancies in almost half of all second-level schools.

Hundreds of post-primary teaching posts remain unfilled on Monday ahead of the return to school this month, with 416 posts advertised on the education recruitment website educationposts.ie.

The post-primary teachers’ union the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has warned that schools are under enormous strain due to the current teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

Almost a fifth of schools have been forced to remove a subject or subjects from the curriculum, according to the ASTI.

Schools have also resorted to re-assigning Special Education Needs (SEN) teachers to mainstream classes.

An ASTI/RED C survey published earlier this year found that three-quarters of school principals received no applications for an advertised teaching post.

It also found unfilled teaching vacancies in almost half of all second-level schools.

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Initiatives to tackle teacher recruitment issues include the upskilling of existing teachers, extra training places for teachers, changes to student-teacher placement arrangements, and changes to the substitution arrangements for teachers on leave or who have retired.

However, continuing to rely on these measures when they clearly have not worked is not an option, according to Kieran Christie, ASTI general secretary.

“It is astonishing that the Minister was seeking to lure teachers to return from other countries this summer on the promise of part-time or fixed-term positions,” Mr Christie said.

“This must change whereby, subject to satisfactory probation, permanent appointments are made available.

“Shortening of the extraordinarily long teachers’ pay scale and doubling the number of middle management posts in schools are the kind of measures that will be needed if we are to properly address the teacher supply crisis.

“Failure to act on this reality in the face of overwhelming evidence will leave a damaging and lasting legacy.”