Schools ‘trying to find people who aren’t there’ for jobs

Primary and second level schools are struggling to fill empty teacher positions by the start of the new term in September.

Despite the recent offer of €2,000 for newly-qualified teachers, many schools fear they will have to use support or retired teachers in classrooms.

One primary school in Co Kildare does not have teachers to fill three permanent posts from September.

Chair of the board of management of Gaelscoil Ruarí in Maynooth, Damhnait Uí Ruairc, said there were five applications for the positions, with one more person to interview, but the others got jobs elsewhere.

The increased numbers in training colleges are not enough, she said, and teachers are not staying in Ireland to work.

Ms Uí Ruairc, who is a former principal of the gaelscoil, said that it was short one permanent post last term, having advertised for the job.

“Last year the principal got no break at all, we’re trying to find people who aren’t there,” she told RTÉ’s News at One.

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Ms Uí Ruairc gave an example of a teacher who left her position as she cannot afford to buy in Co Kildare.

In general, she said, people are trying to work close to home to avoid paying rent, or they are going abroad.

Rent in the Kildare area is €1,500 a month, plus the cost of utility bills and running a car, Ms Uí Ruairc said, and teachers “can’t live on” what they are being paid.

She said that it is not possible to get cover for a permanent job, resulting in learning supports being “thrown by the wayside”.

“We opened a special autism class last year. We are struggling now to staff it. The most vulnerable children, who lost out being in school and learning support during Covid-19, and now they are losing out because you can’t prioritise it if you’ve a class with 26 or 30 children with no teacher.”

Ms Uí Ruairc called for an allowance for teachers living in areas where rent costs are high and further incentives for retired teachers to return to classrooms.

She also said that newly-qualified teachers should be allowed to take on one paid year of temporary work while doing their teaching practice.