Student teachers being used to fill positions until Easter in some schools

The shortage is ongoing.

Student teachers are currently filling staffing absences in primary schools until the end of March following a new emergency measure brought in by Education Minister Norma Foley. Third and fourth year undergraduate students and those completing post-graduate (PME) teaching programmes are being placed into classrooms in order to get schools through to Easter, The Irish Independent reports. The teacher shortage crisis is continuing across the country and Foley has since met with colleges to seek out the flexibility to deal with these shortages. They have now responded in different ways in order to support schools despite what these student teachers already do in terms of their teacher training placements. Colleges in Ireland are now changing the courses to allow for students to be free for a certain amount of time this year for subbing jobs in the weeks leading up to Easter. [caption id="attachment_395672" align="alignnone" width="640"] Credit: Merrion Street[/caption] This measure includes cancelling lectures for a week, cutting tuition time to four days a week instead of five, or a delayed return to college after Christmas. The colleges affected are Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Dublin City University, Marino Institute of Education, Maynooth University and Hibernia College. These colleges have reportedly responded positively to the request bur could not have this as a long term solution. Principals in schools have also welcomed this but are concerned that this will disrupt the teacher's training and studies and compromise their degrees. Dublin is currently the worst hit by the shortage due to high housing prices for students and young people. Last autumn, 65% of primary schools in Dublin didn’t have a full quota of staff and the figure nationally was an average of 87% reporting challenges in recruiting subs.