Teacher-sharing scheme to tackle school shortages results in single full-time post

A Government initiative to tackle teacher shortages by allowing secondary schools to share teachers across key subjects has resulted in just a single shared teaching post.

It comes as many schools say they are struggling to recruit qualified teachers in key subjects including in physics, Irish, maths, European languages and home economics.

An updated teacher-sharing scheme pilot, launched in June 2023, has been cited by Minister for Education Norma Foley as one of several key measures aimed at tackling teacher shortages.

A Department of Education spokesman said that following engagement with school management bodies, several schools were identified as participants in the scheme in the 2023/24 academic year.

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As schools hired staff, two reported that they had satisfied their recruitment needs and their interest ceased.

The spokesman said two schools remain in the pilot with a single teacher on less than full-time hours receiving a full-time (22 hours per week) contract as a result.

A previous teaching-sharing pilot scheme, launched in 2019, failed to attract the interest of any schools.

School principals say there are a number of barriers around sharing teachers including co-ordinating recruitment and the development of school timetables months in advance of a new academic year.

There are also, say some school leaders, cultural obstacles around teacher sharing in areas where schools are competing to attract students, as well as a reluctance to draw public attention to “out of field” teachers in individual schools.

A Department spokesman said the latest pilot intends to “understand the issues and challenges” that the sharing of teachers across two schools may present and help determine what further supports may be needed to expand the concept to other schools.

In addition to the pilot, the spokesman said 24 schools are taking part in a “school co-operation scheme” where pupils travel between schools to avail of subjects not available in their school, such as chemistry, physics, home economics, art, agricultural science, economics and music.

“While schools in certain locations are experiencing challenges in both recruiting teachers and obtaining substitute teachers, the vast majority of sanctioned teacher positions are filled,” the spokesman said. “The rate of resignation and retirement is very low by any standard and is consistent with previous years.”

Many secondary schools, however, say they have been forced to drop or limit access to key subjects due to staff shortages.

A survey of school principals and deputies across more than 100 second-level schools last September and October indicated that almost two out of three (64 per cent) still had unfilled vacancies due to recruitment and retention difficulties.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) survey found that maths was the most difficult subject to find qualified teachers for, followed by woodwork/construction studies, Irish, biology, home economics and chemistry. It found the housing crisis and career progression options were exacerbating teacher shortages.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said Budget 2024 contains a range of measures aimed at boosting the supply of qualified teachers.

These include financial incentives for students undertaking a professional masters of education, funding for teacher upskilling programmes and increasing the number of middle-management grades, or posts of responsibility.

He said these new measures were in addition to a range of targeted measures at primary and post-primary levels that have been introduced in recent times.

“The department continues to engage closely with school management bodies, teacher unions and other education stakeholders to develop the teacher sharing scheme, and welcomes engagement that would develop further, innovative measures to address teacher supply issues,” he added.

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