Knockbeg principal calls for teacher retention reforms

A CARLOW secondary school principal has echoed concerns raised in a new survey from the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), which highlights a deepening teacher recruitment and retention crisis in Irish secondary schools.

John Maye, principal of St Mary’s Knockbeg College, acknowledged the challenges schools are facing but noted that his own school has so far managed to maintain its full curriculum of 21 subjects.

“We have faced a challenge around the filling of one post in particular. We were lucky to be able to fill the post on a short term with a substitute teacher before finally filling the post in November. There was no additional support or ideas from the department to assist; we just got very lucky,” he said.

The TUI survey, conducted among 111 second-level schools, found that 93% of schools had difficulties recruiting teachers in the past six months, while 64% reported unfilled vacancies. Perhaps most alarmingly, 20% of schools have had to drop subjects altogether due to staffing shortages. While Knockbeg College has not yet had to restrict student access to subjects, Mr Maye expressed concern for the national picture.

“The terms and conditions for Irish teachers cannot compete with what is on offer in other countries at the moment. A newly-qualified teacher in Ireland cannot see a pathway to building a life, family or home in the way previous generations could. This is after a minimum of five years in third-level education and an additional two years’ probation, before a bank or lending institution will consider them as applicants,” he said.

Mr Maye outlined several key solutions to addressing the crisis, including reducing the pupil-teacher ratio, which is one of the highest in Europe, to create more posts while improving education delivery. He also suggested government-backed mortgage schemes for new teachers to help them get access to housing.

The Knockbeg principal added that there should be “state recognition that the entire system will fail if we do not manage to entice our recently-qualified staff home in time to ensure the new senior cycle curriculum can be appropriately introduced to the individuals who will be required to deliver it in the next five to ten years”.

With only 3% of survey respondents believing that enough is being done at government level to solve the crisis, Mr Maye’s comments highlight the need for urgent action.

“The social contract is broken and we need innovative ways to address this,” he said.