2,000 secondary teachers needed to keep up with boom, principals’ leader warns
Recruitment problems for second-level schools are set to worsen as an extra 2,000 teachers are needed just to keep with the looming spike in student numbers, a principals’ leader has warned.
The number of second-level students is currently projected to grow from almost 364,000 this year to up to 404,000 by 2024 or 2025. Although enrolments may begin to slide after that, they will remain higher than current numbers until at least 2030.
Stephen Goulding, president of the Principals and Deputy Principals Association (PDA), said schools are struggling to find qualified applicants to teach several subjects and the profession needs to remain attractive to the best graduates.
At the annual conference today of the PDA, which is part of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), he will call for a roadmap to outline when full pay equality for new and recent entrants to the profession will be delivered.
“An imminent spike in student numbers will pose significant challenges to the education system,” said Mr Goulding.
“Already, schools regularly advertise posts that often fail to attract suitably qualified applicants. In some cases, there may not be applications at all for posts in particular subject areas.”
He also raised the issue of pay equality as one method to help to stem emigration by teachers to other countries. The TUI’s members narrowly voted last month (53%-47%) to accept proposals that would close the gap in pay scales for teachers who began in the job after 2010.
“Progress has been made on reversing the cuts to pay of new and recent entrants to the profession, most recently with the removal of two points from the salary scale which will allow recent entrants to progress up the scale quicker,” Mr Goulding said.
“However, a roadmap and timeframe that outlines the resolution of this process is urgently required if the education system is not to lose out to other jurisdictions and other forms of employment.”
The Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, said last week that campaigns reaching out to emigrant teachers could help to attract some to return, as he launched an action plan formulated by a working group on teacher supply.
Third-level colleges have increased places on courses leading to second-level teaching qualifications, with a focus on subjects where there are shortages, but it will take several years for the impact of increased graduate numbers to be seen in schools.
Emigration by recently graduated teachers is a bigger problem for primary schools, whose main difficulty is the inadequate number of teachers available for substitute cover in many areas.
Members of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation voted last month to reject the pay proposals for so-called new entrants, in a 53%-47% result.
Ahead of issuing a further ballot on industrial action on the equal pay issue, the union’s executive will meet early next month to consider views of members from a series of regional meetings being held over the coming weeks.
The position may also be informed by the outcome of an ongoing ballot of Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland members on the same deal. They are casting votes in schools up to tomorrow and the result should be known by next Wednesday.
