Current teacher shortages threaten high-quality, inclusive education, directly affecting up to 50,000 primary students in Ireland and indirectly affecting thousands more. Many schools have chronic difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers, leaving vulnerable children without essential supports. Immediate action is crucial to ensure all children are taught by fully qualified teachers every day.
The reasons for Ireland’s teacher shortages are manifold. A flat career structure, long salary scale, limited advancement opportunities, large class sizes, insufficient professional development, heavy administrative workloads and underfunded schools are having a profoundly negative impact on the profession. The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has identified various barriers to recruitment and retention, including the costs of housing and childcare, workload and accountability pressures, pupil behavioural issues, communications with parents and societal attitudes towards teachers. These issues are the root causes of the supply crisis.
Teaching is a valued and desirable profession in many high-performing countries. In Finland primary teaching is one of the most sought-after careers and is seen as an attractive profession. Teachers there have the time and space to be autonomous, collaborate with their colleagues and engage in educational research, development and design. Teaching salaries in Singapore are on par with those of accountants and engineers. They have a high-quality induction system for new teachers and a robust three-track career ladder that builds and rewards educator expertise throughout their careers.
There has been a reluctance at a policy level here in Ireland when it comes to meaningful action, with the Government’s response to growing teacher shortages being frustratingly slow and ineffective. Radical action is long overdue to promote teaching in Ireland, increase teacher supply lines, reduce the loss of qualified teachers choosing careers elsewhere, encourage those working in the system to remain and others already abroad to return.
I believe it’s time for a national commission to be charged with finding real solutions to the teacher supply crisis. Financial incentives, job stability and career encouragement will be vital to enhance the appeal of teaching careers. In recent years our union has made numerous recommendations to Government in order to alleviate teacher shortages and pave the way towards a well-staffed, advanced and resilient education sector for the next decade. Not nearly enough of our recommendations have been heeded to date.
We support the exploration of more flexible entry requirements to initial teacher education courses and the development of alternative pathways to the profession, while resisting any attempts to dilute the quality of graduates and postgraduates entering primary teaching.
To address acute teacher shortages, we propose substantially increasing the State-funded teacher education intake, the provision of scholarships to promote diversity in the profession, subsidising pre-service fees, expanding special education training and encouraging mid-career transitions. Middle leadership posts must be restored to pre-austerity levels to provide promotional opportunities for teachers and develop future school leaders. These measures aim to enhance career progression, reduce burnout and stabilise teacher supply.
An ambitious campaign must be launched to attract overseas teachers back to Ireland, giving them full credit for experience gained abroad. Additionally, we have to get to grips with housing issues for urban workers.
Within the current public sector agreement, there is a mechanism for trade unions to progress local pay claims. The INTO intends to lodge claims designed to make salary structures for teachers in primary and special schools more attractive. The freeze on allowances since 2012 has clearly added to the supply crisis in many schools. We will pursue the reinstatement of allowances for teachers with extra academic qualifications and for those who work in specialised settings including special schools, Irish medium schools and schools serving areas of acute disadvantage.
To maximise the supply of quality teachers in the next few years, we will seek the restructuring of primary teachers’ salary scales to help make the profession more attractive to early-career and young potential teachers and we will lodge a claim for an annual “retention allowance” to incentivise experienced teachers to continue teaching for longer.
Government needs to prioritise structural reforms and implement creative solutions for the education sector to be able to sustain our teaching force and meet our pupils’ needs, thereby protecting the future of high-quality education. Other nations boldly invest in their education systems. If we in Ireland want a thriving educational system comprising satisfied teachers and student success, we simply must demand that Government increases education spending.
Remember the future of our country is in our schools. Everyone who is genuinely interested in making primary and special education a high priority has the power to shape tomorrow’s classrooms. As a new academic year begins with teacher shortages compromising the ability of schools to meet the needs of all pupils, let’s take a determined step forward and campaign together today for a better tomorrow.
John Boyle is general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation
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