Sir, - There has been much discussion recently about the shortage of primary school teachers in Ireland. I am one of the many who trained as a primary school teacher in England in the early 1990s and can at present qualify only for temporary status as a teacher. The rate of pay for this position is about £41 per day (temporary position) and £75 per day (substitute position). This would involve a substantial drop in salary for me. The drop would be less if I did substitute work, but of course by its very nature I cannot be guaranteed a full week's work.
If I want to qualify for full status I first have to take an Irish exam that is, I have been told, university-level. If I pass this I then have to wait until next summer in order to attend an expensive set course for three weeks in the Gaeltacht. I have a family with two small children. I have a mortgage. I can neither afford to drop to such a low rate of pay nor spend three full weeks away from my children. Surely if there is such a desperate situation in the primary schools, people who genuinely want to work in this area could be better encouraged and facilitated to enter it. - Yours, etc.,
K. Conway, Dunboyne, Co Meath.