Teacher recruitment and retention crisis

Sir, – Carl O’Brien states Minister for Education Norma Foley cannot be accused of standing idly by in her handling of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis (“Why Foley can expect some respite at union conferences”, Analysis, April 2nd). He claims that almost every lever at her disposal has been pulled. The problem is that the horse had well and truly bolted.

In 2012, the Sahlberg report highlighted the issue of teacher supply as a potential weakness in our education system and called for the urgent development of a more effective model of teacher supply.

Unfortunately the authorities in the Department of Education and the Teaching Council did not seem to share this sense urgency. It wasn’t until 2018 that a Teacher Supply Steering Group (TSSG) was set up within the department. The group was doomed to be an out-of-touch group from the start, with school principal representation not even included in its membership. Its subsequent actions failed to address the growing crisis in teacher supply in any meaningful or sustainable manner.

It is worth noting that The Irish Times has devoted many column inches over the years consistently highlighting the looming crisis in teacher supply.

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Eminent educationalists Prof Judith Harford and Dr Brian Fleming adeptly identified the various decisions that over the years have contributed to the current crisis (Opinion, November 25th, 2022). Indeed, a few years earlier they first wrote an opinion piece on the subject in which they identified a number of strategies to tackle the problem (“How can we solve the teacher supply crisis?”, Analysis, July 18th, 2018).

These included the restoration of the common basic salary scale; the provision of additional funding for those undertaking teacher education programmes; measures to reduce the “leakage” of qualified teachers choosing other careers, to encourage those working in the system to remain and to motivate others already abroad to return; as well as protocols for reducing the casualisation of the profession. It is worth noting that even those somewhat late to the table today are now also calling on these more transformative measures to be introduced.

In all these attempts to bolster teacher supply, an important caveat remains which is that teaching is not for everyone. While there are 20 per cent more teachers qualifying compared to five years ago and a record 122,000 teachers registered with the Teaching Council, they may not all be suited to teaching. We must not take our eye off the ball in terms of quality in the profession. We must ensure that new entrants to the teaching profession have the best possible start to their careers, and that teaching in Ireland continues to attract and retain high-calibre teachers. – Yours, etc,

JOHN McHUGH,

Principal,

Ardscoil Rís,

Dublin 9.