Attractiveness of profession key to addressing teacher shortages

We must actively explore all options to ensure that no child is left without a qualified teacher.

Supporting a motion at Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) Congress in Derry, teachers condemned the continuing failure of the Department of Education (DE) to plan for an adequate supply of teachers for primary and special schools.

Prior to the austerity cuts to salaries, allowances and posts of responsibility there was no teacher retention crisis in Ireland. Currently, the housing crisis and escalating living costs are having a profound impact on the recruitment and retention of teachers in Ireland, particularly within areas where housing is unaffordable for teachers and rents are exorbitant.

The downgrading of the profession between 2009 and 2013 when allowances for teachers were withdrawn and the heart was ripped from the promotional system has left a damning legacy.

Members today called on the DE in consultation with the INTO to take a fundamentally different approach to the staffing crisis which recognises the impact of teacher shortage and focuses on enhancing the attractiveness of the teaching profession in Ireland through measures including:

ensuring that teachers’ terms and conditions compare favourably with those available internationally to substantially increase the retention of teachers in the country;

providing that teachers returning from working abroad have their experience recognised and adequately remunerated.

Members instructed the Central Executive Committee (CEC) to avail of every opportunity to engage with the Department of Education and other bodies, including the Teaching Council to progress this approach.

Congress also demanded that the CEC engage with the DE to generate a category on the Online Claims System (OLCS) to allow for substitute teachers to be appointed in a short-term capacity where there is a permanent or fixed-term teaching vacancy in a school.