Chai Brady
A priority for the new Minister for Education must be to tackle chronic teacher shortages as it is causing schools to “struggle” to help children, particularly those with special needs, according to the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP).
Alan Hynes, CEO of the CEP told The Irish Catholic that “from the point of view of a Catholic ethos, if we can’t properly secure the welfare of kids with special education needs because of the lack of teachers – that will have to be a significant priority”.
A recent survey conducted by the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) of principals and deputy principals in 111 secondary schools found 75% of schools advertised positions in the previous six months for which no teacher applied, 64% have unfilled vacancies due to recruitment and retention difficulties, and 20% have been forced to drop subjects.
Mr Hynes said: “Schools are struggling to deal with the lack of teachers in the system, in post-primary several schools are cutting back on subject areas as well. If Catholics see education as being for the good of the person and a key contributor to the common good, well then we need to make sure people are adequately educated, we can’t do that without qualified teachers.”
He insisted that there should not be Government complacency in the area because of falling pupil numbers – that the situation will take care of itself due to changing demographics in Ireland.
“The teacher shortage issue is having an impact today on students,” Mr Hynes said. “It is a key issue of urgency within the Irish education system, primary and post-primary, and it is having real life impacts on the quality of education we’re giving to young people -particularly in special ed.
Mr Hynes said the Department of Education must speak to school leavers, graduates and young people in the profession to find out what makes the profession unattractive.
“We have to ask ourselves why so many of our young teachers are opting to go abroad. What is it about the terms and conditions of employment here? The way to do that is to actually talk to those people, to understand why they have made the decisions they have made,” he said.
“That means a lot of work and it will eventually mean facing up to some awkward truths and making some difficult decisions about how to attract more people into the profession and to keep them in there.”