Qualified primary teachers queue for work each day at the INTO's head office. Meanwhile, many children are being taught by someone without a qualification. John Downes reports

The young and not so young sitting in a carpeted room with a reception desk in the middle are waiting for their names to be called out. Anxious to find out if they will be able to get a day's work, there is a definite sense of anticipation among the 15 to 20 people there. If their name is called, they can get a day's pay (€168) with the prospect that they might be kept on longer. If not, they go home and return again the next day, or later in the week.

Although it conjures up images of previous generations of Irish labourers, who turned up at building sites and docks looking for casual work, the individuals in the scenario outlined above differ in one important way - they are not unskilled labourers, but fully-qualified primary and second-level teachers looking for work in primary schools.

One woman in her 50s tells The Irish Times photographer that she does not want to have her name or picture appear in the newspaper. She does not say why, but the suspicion is that she does not want people to know that she is still looking for such work at her age.

It is an image that is far removed from the typical impression of teachers having a "job for life" and long months of holidays. When your name is picked out in the INTO's head office in Parnell Square in Dublin, you jump at the opportunity to talk to a school principal looking for a substitute teacher.

It could mean travelling anywhere in the Dublin area for a day's work, but if you have spent years studying to qualify as a primary teacher and still cannot get a secure long-term job, any work is welcome.

There has always been a need for substitute teachers to cover sick and other leave. But despite claims by the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, that the existing teacher-training colleges are not producing enough teachers - a fact she used to justify her recent admission that the Government would be unable to meet its targets on reducing class sizes in primary schools - many new graduates tell a different story.

According to some estimates, as many as 20 per cent of newly-qualified teachers are working as short-term substitute teachers, unable to find jobs of more than a few weeks' or months' duration.

Valerie Ferguson (21) is one of those in the INTO office on a wet November Monday. Originally from Mayo, she graduated last June. Despite having sent off "well over 100" CVs and references to schools during the summer, she has been forced to resort to the INTO's substitute placement service to look for work.

She has always wanted to be a teacher, and says she does not know what she will do if she doesn't find full-time employment. "It's been completely disheartening," she says. "You come in and write down your name and details and then you sit there. And the phonecalls come in and you wait for your name to be called.

"It's the 'not knowing' where you're going to be, you could have to get on a bus to any school. I hope I'm going to get enough days to pay my rent and living expenses."

Minister Hanafin has acknowledged the need to reduce the numbers of unqualified teachers in the system. Earlier this month, she said her aim would be to ensure that no student would have to be taught by an unqualified teacher. But she said that on any given day, there are approximately 700 such teachers. They perform roles which could be filled by qualified teachers like Ferguson.

According to John Carr, general secretary of the INTO, this has contributed to the fact that "significant numbers" of qualified teachers have not found employment this year. Many more have not been able to find regular employment.

"There clearly is a problem with teacher employment at present. This is due to a number of factors," he says. "These include the fact that there are still persons with no qualifications employed in schools at present." There has also been a failure to factor in the numbers of newly-qualified teachers, who are graduating from colleges in the UK and returning here to seek work, he adds.

"In some areas there are panels of supply teachers who cover teacher absences in a co-ordinated manner. This must be expanded to provide more certainty in the placement of substitute teachers," he believes.

"These teachers would be familiar with the general work of the school, the background of the pupils - and the pupils and parents would know the substitute teacher in the same way as they know other teachers in the school." Parents should be concerned about the continuity - and the quality - of their children's education. The fact that there are unqualified teachers teaching children as young as four raises serious questions about the quality of teaching they are receiving.

Anita Walshe (26) from Clontarf, Dublin, puts it another way. Speaking after her graduation ceremony from Trinity College Dublin earlier this month, she explained that although she has a job at the moment, it is only until Christmas. And the short-term nature of this work means she is being forced to neglect one of the central elements of her postgraduate training as a teacher: building the trust of the child.

"It's just very temporary. The relationship with children is very limited," she says. "While some children may be very receptive to having a new teacher in the room, others take time to build up their trust in you. And in terms of what you feel you are achieving, you are not seeing the progress of the children over the long term."

It is difficult to escape the suspicion that some school principals are favouring unqualified teachers over those who have spent thousands of euro getting a recognised qualification.

Some also suggest that students on the online Hibernia course - who can continue to work as unqualified teachers while completing their qualifications - are being favoured over graduates from the established training colleges. If such students already have a "foot in the door" of a school, they say, when a job is advertised, students who have studied on full-time courses face an uphill struggle in securing a job at that school.

Whether this is the case or not, what is clear is that the current situation is frustrating for many newly-qualified, enthusiastic teachers, anxious to get a chance to use their new skills.

One mother from the south-east of the country, who did not wish to be named, says her daughter, who qualified as a teacher last May, is now working part-time in a hotel. She worries that her daughter might lose her enthusiasm for the job she loves because she has only managed to get one week's work in total since her graduation day.

"She is despondent . . . she has worked extremely hard to get where she has, but she can't get regular work. There were a lot of jobs when she started her course three years ago, and she was told she was getting into the profession at a very good time.

"But if something doesn't change, she will get disheartened. I get three newspapers every morning and I'm scouring them as she goes to work. It really is very frustrating."