Action needed to address teacher supply crisis
- Quality of education being undermined.
- Broad range of issues impacting on recruitment and retention must be addressed with a new taskforce.
- Key worker housing needed in our main cities.
Labour candidate for Kildare North, Angela Feeney has called on the Minister for Education to establish a taskforce to address the broad range of issues impacting on the recruitment and retention of teachers, and the development of key worker housing to ensure our public services are properly staffed.
Cllr Feeney said:
“Across the country schools are understaffed, principals are struggling to recruit qualified teachers, and the teaching of children is being impacted. Figures released by the INTO show over 950 posts vacant at primary level. Similar problems are impacting on our secondary schools. Half of schools in Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow report unfilled teaching posts.
“The Minister can no longer ignore the crisis and action is long overdue. Labour is calling for a taskforce to be established to consider the many issues influencing recruitment and retention of teachers. Children need to have qualified staff in the classroom.
“Teacher unions have long highlighted the problems schools are facing. These include casualisation of the profession, the length of pay scales and the cost of living and lack of affordable housing. For example, many teachers are working abroad and if they return receive no incremental credit for their experience working as teachers. There should be a temporary removal of the cap on incremental credit. At second level the length of the PME needs to be reviewed.
“At both primary and second level unions have put forward concrete proposals to help resolve the crisis. The only response from the Department has been to highlight how many teachers are in the system, and the increased numbers that have been trained in recent years.
“The reality is that new graduates cannot afford to live where we need them to teach and feel their only option is to emigrate. A commitment is needed to address these issues whether through local bargaining or a bespoke staffing package.
“The lack of qualified staff is undermining the education of children. Special education teachers are filling in gaps, and unqualified staff are being recruited.
“This is not acceptable and two months into the school year action is needed. Ireland still has some of the highest pupil teacher ratios in Europe.
“As someone who has worked in education all my life, I know first hand the issues facing the professions. And I know that there are solutions, with the political will. Labour has called for the development of key worker housing as a key measure to ensure public servants can live in our cities and growing towns so that public services can be adequately staffed.”