Irish Examiner view: Cutting back on degree duration may have unintended effects 

We should think twice about any measures that could lessen Ireland's reputation as being particularly well-educated 

Tánaiste Micheál Martin's suggestion that a shorter teaching MA course would suffice could have the unintended result of lessening the reputation of the entire education system. File picture: David Young/PA 

The problems faced by schools all over Ireland in filling teaching posts has not ended simply because children are back at school.

The teacher shortage has several causes — the cost of accommodation in the capital is putting pressure on schools in Dublin to fill posts, for instance, while the Tánaiste identified another earlier this week.

Micheál Martin referred to the two-year graduate conversion programme many current teachers have used. He said:

If you’re working class or your income is limited to what your family can do, the idea of the master’s in teaching will be a daunting financial prospect. 

“I think we should be alive to revisiting all that. Pure educationists might say we need two years, but I’m not convinced.”

Recognising the significant financial burden involved in committing to two years of study is welcome, but reducing the programme to two years is a tricky proposition with wide-ranging implications for the education sector.

First, cramming a two-year course into one year because of a temporary teacher shortage is a drastic step which may have the effect of devaluing the qualification. It may also create an unofficial hierarchy among teachers, of those with a two-year masters and those with a single year.

There is also an inherent contradiction in another suggestion from the Tánaiste on the matter — that additional payments should be reintroduced for teachers who go on to gain extra qualifications, such as a special education qualification or doctorate degree (some of these were axed under austerity measures).

This means advocating for teachers to get more qualifications on one hand, and halving their qualifications on the other.

Finally, Ireland’s success as a magnet for high-worth jobs owes much to the perception of our workforce as well-educated, among other qualities. Mr Martin is a passionate advocate for education, but any measure which may have the unintended result of lessening the reputation of the entire education system must be considered carefully.

The reality of homelessness 

As noted above, the accommodation and housing crisis is now reaching into many different areas and having an adverse impact.

The squeeze on teacher numbers in Dublin because of high rents is an indirect result of that crisis, however. Organisations such as the Simon Community are dealing with the crisis at the very coalface.

Yesterday Simon released its annual impact report for 2022 and it made for grim reading. There has been a 33% increase in the number of men and women seeking help from the organisation, an increase which has helped push it into a deficit of €750,000. This is shocking in and of itself, a graphic illustration of a challenge to society as a whole, while drilling into the fine detail of the report yielded equally disturbing lessons.

Simon’s chief executive, Dermot Kavanagh, pointed out that the charity is now seeing more and more homeless people in work, sometimes in full-time jobs, who simply cannot find somewhere affordable to live: “That is quite a change. A few years ago, we put a lot of effort into employment, education, and training courses, and that used to be a pathway out of homelessness. That’s no longer a guarantee. Rents are absolutely shocking.”

This is truly dispiriting, particularly for organisations like Simon which are working so hard to provide a way out of homelessness. If someone working a full-time job cannot afford accommodation then that is a terrible indictment of modern Ireland.

Not only is someone homeless, the value system underlying our society — of education and hard work as the pathway to survival, never mind success — is completely undermined.

There is a completely different discussion to be had as to why a voluntary service like Simon has to carry so much of the burden in this area, and why it is doing work which should really be carried out by State agencies. Unsatisfactory though that situation is, we can only be grateful that Simon and similar organisations are stepping up to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people.

Optimism about climate change

The onslaught of bad news about climate change and environmental problems can be overwhelming.

The markers of decline are so varied and numerous that it can be easy to give way to despair about the future of the planet, a despair with the potential to make one feel that it’s hardly worthwhile to fight back.

It was encouraging, therefore, to hear a rare note of optimism being sounded by Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency and sometimes described as the world’s foremost energy economist.

“Despite the scale of the challenges, I feel more optimistic than I felt two years ago,” he said this week. “Solar photovoltaic installations and electric vehicle sales are perfectly in line with what we said they should be, to be on track to reach net zero by 2050, and thus stay within 1.5C.”

Birol entered caveats, understandably — he pointed to high greenhouse gas emissions as a continuing problem, and instancing extreme weather events as another concern.

Yet the positivity of his message should also be noted — it shows that we do not face an invincible foe after all, and that the steps we are taking are making a difference. That is not a licence to rest on our laurels, but it underlines the value of fighting climate change — and of continuing with that fight.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB