Teacher shortages leading to subjects being cut in secondary schools

Michael Bolton

Teacher shortages across the State have led to subjects being removed by schools, with school principals contacting the Department of Education over their growing concerns.

Correspondence with the Department of Education received by breakingnews.ie under the Freedom of Information Act show the teacher shortage has forced schools to contact the Department as advertised vacancies for posts unfilled since summer 2022.

A letter from the Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, to the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, revealed that one school advertised for a teaching position six times without receiving any applicants. It means the school may have to withdraw that teaching position's subject from its curriculum.

In another case, a school principal contacted the Minister for Education in November 2022 as they were unable to hire a qualified technology teacher since 2019, and therefore had to remove the subject as an option for students.

At the time of the letter, the principal had taken on the role of teaching technology to the sixth years, and was paying the caretaker to open the school at the weekend for another teacher from outside to school to help complete the project with students.

Another principal contacted the Department of Education and Leo Varadkar in January 2023, as they were without teachers in maths, English, geography, technology and Spanish.

Geography was being thought in the school by three postgraduate master’s degree in education (PME) students teaching students, with two PMEs also teaching Maths. The situation was described as messy by the principal, as these students were both attending college and teaching.

At the time of the letter, the principal said one person was coming in from Spain, who was not qualified to teach and Garda vetting was being rushed through.

Teaching contracts

The recruitment problem of teachers led to the Teachers Union Ireland (TUI) general secretary Michael Gillespie writing to Ms Foley on December 1st 2022, calling for second-level teachers to be given permanent jobs when they start their career.

A survey TUI conducted showed 65 per cent of teachers hired after 2011 did not get a full-hours contract upon initial appointment.

The union called for the length of time to become a qualified teacher to be reduced, with many people unable to afford a two-year PME after their initial four years of college.

Mr Gillespie called for the TUI to be on the Department's teacher's supply steering group.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told breakingnews.ie that progress has been made in recruiting teachers.

"The numbers employed in our schools have now reached the highest number ever. This has led to a steady improvement in the pupil:teacher ratio and average class size statistics.

"Between 2018 and 2021, there has been a 15 per cent increase in the number of teaching posts allocated to post-primary.

"There has been a 27 per cent increase in post-primary ITE graduates between 2018 and 2021, and a 14 per cent increase in CAO first preferences for post-primary teaching courses between 2022 and 2023. Similarly, there has been a 25 per cent increase in teachers registered with the Teaching Council since 2017."

To combat future teacher shortages, the Department said more than 2,700 third- and fourth-year undergraduate student teachers were registered with the Teaching Council and will be enabling student teachers to cover substitutable vacancies.

Retired teachers will also be encouraged to take short-term positions. Currently, retired teachers may teach for up to 50 days in a calendar year without reducing their pension.