Teaching becoming ‘too expensive for many’, union says
Cillian Sherlock, PA
Teaching has become “too expensive for many” in Ireland, a teachers’ union has said.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the unaffordability of the profession has resulted in a recruitment crisis responsible for larger class sizes and reduced subject choice.
Following a survey of more than 1,000 of its members, the post-primary teachers’ union said serious concerns have been raised about the suitability of school facilities to facilitate the redeveloped senior cycle programme.
Other worries cited by teachers include excessive workload and challenges relating to artificial intelligence (AI).
TUI said just 35 per cent of those surveyed who entered teaching within the last decade received a full-hour contract in their first appointment.
The union wants “targeted measures to ensure that teaching remains an attractive, sustainable profession with a fair and manageable workload”.
It said that of those who joined the profession before 2016, 77% do not believe they could afford to become a teacher today.
TUI president, Anthony Quinn, said: “Teaching has become too expensive for many in Irish society, as evidenced by the current recruitment crisis, which sees students experiencing larger class sizes and having less access to the full breadth of subjects.”
TUI said schools need greater teaching allocations and argued that the requirement of a two-year professional master in education to teach at second level “must be halved”
More than 90% of respondents said paperwork and bureaucratic workload regularly deflect from their core role of teaching,
Almost 80% said they do not believe that the level of departmental guidance on AI has been satisfactory.
Mr Quinn said: “Standing still is not an option here.
“The nettle must be grasped – we need a coherent and regulated national approach that optimises the potential benefits and protects against the risks that AI presents to the education system.”
