'It is a crisis': Up to 39 calls to get a substitute teacher

It has taken as many as 39 phonecalls and emails for some Cork schools to get a substitute teacher, with 77 posts in the county filled by unqualified teachers.

The deepening teacher-supply crisis, in primary and special schools in Ireland, has been highlighted by a union survey to which 40% of all schools responded.

The survey was commissioned by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), in partnership with the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) and the Catholic Primary Schools’ Management Association (CPSMA).

Data provided to The Echo by the INTO shows that 107 of the 138 Cork schools that responded say that it takes up to five calls or emails to get a ‘sub’, 14 say it takes up to 19 calls/emails, and four say up to 39 calls/emails.

When asked how the recruitment and retention of teachers compared to last year, 62% of Cork principals felt it was as bad, while 8% said it was more stressful. Also, 59% of Cork principals found it stressful managing the dilemma, while 12% found it extremely stressful.

Asked if they had to redeploy SET teachers to cover absences in their school, 83 Cork schools reported having to do so.

The survey also points to an increased reliance on unqualified cover, such as substitutes not registered as teachers with the Teaching Council, with 77 posts filled this way in Cork between September 30 and October 7, when the survey was done.

Nationally, schools expect to have 400 fixed-term vacancies between now and January 6, with nearly one third of these gaps expected to arise in Dublin, but a sizeable number also expected in Cork.

In total, Irish schools expect to have a further 1,816 vacancies by next January, indicating an overall shortage of 2,767 teachers for the majority of this school year across Ireland.

Special-education teachers (SETs) were reallocated to mainstream classes by 59% of schools, with 39% of schools reporting that they had been forced to sub-divide classes when no substitute teacher could be found.

Dissatisfaction with the department’s response to the teacher-supply crisis was expressed by 86% of schools, who deemed it inadequate.

Anne Horan, a teacher in West Cork and vice president of the INTO, told The Echo: “What I find is, if I need a sub for two weeks’ time, I can get one, but if somebody rings in sick on Monday morning, it’s very difficult.

“The department have set up a supply panel, so that’s my first stop. Then, we go to our own list of teachers, who could all be working; then try local WhatsApp groups.”

“I’m in a small school, so if we class split, we could end up with five different classes in the same room, which makes it very tricky to teach them all, and sometimes schools have no option but to allocate the SET, which means the children who are dependant on that teacher are at a disadvantage.”

Ms Horan said: “Seventy seven posts were filled by people not regulated with the Teaching Council. These could be secondary teachers who are not qualified for primary school. The important thing about all of these figures, and they’re frightening figures, is that this is all over one week. It is a crisis, and we need the Government to do something. We need financial incentives, we need job stability, and we need career progression.”