It is an understatement to say teacher supply crisis requires urgent attention

In some cases, students have found courses they had commenced in junior and senior cycle cancelled midstream

It has become very clear that in cases where principals cannot secure the services of a fully-qualified teacher, they are left with no choice but to employ a non-qualified person, or ‘out-of-field teacher,’ to take particular classes. 

For well over a decade now schools in Ireland have been facing a crisis in teacher supply. This has applied at both primary and post-primary level although the focus in this piece is on the latter.

Occasional shortages of teachers under particular subject headings have understandably occurred from time to time. Examples of this include a shortage of teachers of home economics following the closure of St Catherine’s College of Education for Home Economics in Dublin in 2003.