81% of schools had to employ at least one unqualified teacher last year

THREE quarters of schools did not receive a single application for an advertised teaching post in the 2022/23 school year, according to research from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI).

The research also highlighted that 81% of schools had to employ at least one unqualified teacher.

The new president of the ASTI, Geraldine O’Brien, said the crisis is undermining the education of children and young people and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“The difficulty is the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

“While it’s not a recent problem, it has been there for a number of years, it’s now currently at its worst,” she said.

Former president of the ASTI, and current teacher at Coláiste Éamann Rís, Ann Piggott, believes the cost of living and housing crisis are a huge factor in the lack of applicants.

“Currently a lot of younger teachers are in Dubai earning quite a good, tax-free salary and sometimes accommodation is included.

“You have to understand that the prices of houses now are so expensive, and it is expensive for teachers starting off to try to get a deposit to pay the average house that costs €350,000.

“That’s a huge incentive for a lot of them to go [to Dubai] so there’s a lot of problems that could be addressed in this country,” Ms Piggott said.

Ms Piggott also believes more schools must allow the opportunity for teachers to take a career break instead of forcing them to make a difficult life-changing decision.

“If a teacher wants to take a career break for a year or two, just travelling or work in Australia they find sometimes schools are not granting them a career break and then teachers give up their permanent jobs at that stage and going [to Australia] and then they are not coming back.

“If a school gave them a career break and teacher go for one, two or three years and then they would return and we would actually have more teachers here to fill the positions,” Ms Piggott added.

Meanwhile, Ms O’Brien wants to see a major change in the way teachers are treated in Ireland.

“Pay teachers more firstly.

“Secondly, there could be a reduction in the pupil teacher ratio.

“Thirdly, they need to collaborate affectively.

“Meaningful collaboration with teachers in relation to change.

“Teachers know best what will work, and will not work in the classroom,” Ms O’Brien concluded.