Teacher recruitment crisis

Sir, – Most of the people who can identify the recruitment crisis, and many of those who experience its impact, regrettably don’t really get involved in trying to solve the problem at source.

When the most recent teacher pay and conditions of service agreement was negotiated, anybody with even a passing knowledge of the educational system knew it would do nothing to solve the recruitment crisis.

So where were the concerned academics, the worried boards of management and their chairpersons, the influential CEOs of educational organisations, the powerful principal bodies and the anxious parent groups when the deal was been struck? Why did they not vocally agitate against the agreement?

Highlighting the teacher recruitment and retention crisis after the conclusion of yet another national pay deal that will do little to solve the crisis, while publicly not saying much or nothing during the negotiations, displays a superficial concern which distracts from solving the problem at source and ultimately only helps the crisis to lumber on. – Yours, etc,