EducationTeachers' conferences

‘Unparalleled’ teacher supply crisis leads to 2,000 vacancies in schools, INTO says

Norma Foley says new pay deal will increase starting salaries for teachers to €46,000 and €85,000 at top end

Minister for Education Norma Foley addressing delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation annual congress in Derry on Monday evening. Photograph: Moya Nolan

Peter McGuire
Mon Apr 1 2024 - 21:22

An “unparalleled” recruitment and retention crisis has taken hold of our education system and the Government has failed to listen to the concerns of many teachers who have “packed their bags and headed overseas”, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s general secretary has warned.

Responding to a speech by Minister for Education Norma Foley, INTO general secretary John Boyle said there were more than 2,000 long-term vacancies in schools, as well as multiple short-term vacancies.

Calling for a surge in teacher training up to the year 2030, he said that the Government’s response to the crisis has been “lacklustre”.

“Until those graduates arrive, the only solution is enticing teachers back home and keeping new graduates on board,” he said.

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Mr Boyle said the union welcomed a number of initiatives including increased investment in special education and the restoration of the primary capitation grant to pre-austerity levels, but there remained a lack of high-quality continuous professional development and promotional prospects.

Mr Boyle said teachers wanted to see a €100 million “local bargaining fund” used to restore the status of primary teaching.

[  ‘We’re haemorrhaging young blood to greener pastures’: Teachers on prospects for new entrants ]

“We expect that when we submit our claims under local bargaining this summer that your Department will support our strategy, and that from September next year the beginning of the end of the sorry austerity chapter can finally become a reality,” he said.

Ms Foley said that she wanted to see the restoration of more posts of responsibility, both to support school leaders and students and to provide a meaningful career path for teachers.

Delegates at the conference spoke widely about the shortage of special education teachers, and expressed concern that these teachers were being taken away from their pupils to cover for mainstream classes.

Ms Foley acknowledged that there is an increasing demand for special education and special school places.

“In my time as Minister, I have encouraged my officials to work closely with school patrons and management to open new opportunities for children with special education needs to attend school with their peers locally,” she said.

[ Almost all parents fear child will lose resources under special education reforms, poll finds ]

But Mr Boyle said the INTO’s call for ring-fenced support for children with acute and identifiable needs had not been heeded. He also said that there was an urgent need for class sizes to come down.

“You slammed the brakes on class size reductions [and] missed an unprecedented opportunity to bring an end to Ireland’s shameful largest class sizes in the euro zone,” Mr Boyle said to Ms Foley, calling on her to reduce class sizes by two pupils in next October’s budget.

Mr Boyle said the union welcomed a number of initiatives, including increased investment in special education and the restoration of the primary capitation grant to pre-austerity levels, but there remained a lack of high-quality continuous professional development and promotional prospects.

Speaking at the conference, Ms Foley pointed to the new public sector pay deal as a way to address issues relating to pay and employment conditions for teachers.

She said the pay agreement, backed by all teacher unions and now ratified by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, will increase the starting pay for a teacher to around €46,000 and at the top point to around €85,000.

Ms Foley said the Government has made a decision to support a pilot “shared island co-operation programme” for the next two years to support efforts to tackle educational disadvantage on both sides of the Border.

Through Ms Foley’s address to the INTO, a significant number of delegates stood and held signs urging the Government to “enact the Occupied Territories Bill” in response to Israel’s continuing war in Gaza.

Ms Foley received applause when she condemned the killing of more than 30,000 Palestinian people, the killing of innocent people and direct hits on more than 200 school buildings in Gaza since Israeli bombing began.

Mr Boyle, however, called for a stronger response.

“It’s shocking that the total value of goods Ireland imports from Israel has grown twenty-fold since 2017. We are now Israel’s fourth biggest market; the UK is the fifth. This trade which facilitates Israel’s apartheid regime must stop right now,” he said.

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