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14th August 2024
12:31pm BST
The summer holidays are swiftly coming to an end and schools across Ireland are struggling to fill positions for teachers.
According to princpials, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire teachers who specialise in subjects such as maths, Irish and Home Economics.
The situation has been described as a “huge issue” and there are fears that for some subject, come September, there won’t be qualified teachers available.
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder, Coláiste Éamann Rís Principal Aaron Wolfe said: “The teaching crisis is real.
“The teachers aren’t out there and there will be classes in September [without teachers].
“There are certain subject areas where you won’t be able to get any qualified teachers.
“Particularly places like Dublin find it very difficult and they find it very hard to fill vacancies.”
Mr. wolfe said the issue is that young people aren’t going into teaching in the numbers they used to and said he thinks that is down to the low salaries.
He said many of our newly qualified teachers are heading abroad to places where they will be paid a high salary.
“They leave, they go to Dubai or places like that,” he explained.
“But they don’t stay in Ireland which leaves us in the current crisis we’re in that we will have empty positions in September.”
The shortage is only going to become more of a problem down the line as the Irish population continues to grow.
“Secondary schools should now be at the peak of student populations,” he said.
“And we don’t have the staff members there - the young teachers normally entering the profession have gone.
“People retire and they’re not being replaced.”
Among the proposed solutions put forward by principals are higher salaries to reflect the increasing workload of a teacher.
“You ask anyone, ‘Would you be a teacher?’ and people say, ‘God no, I’d never go into a classroom.’”
Another concern is the fact that the HDip was switched up to be called the PME and it’s now a two year course.
“Before [that] you used to do your degree, that would take you three to four years and then you could do one year of teacher training.
“But they changed that to two years… it’s six years to qualify as a teacher, it’s a ridiculous amount of time to qualify.”
What are your thoughts on the situation and what do you think should be done? Let us know over on social media.
