Newly qualified teachers will be fast-tracked into permanent contracts as part of a package of measures aimed at tackling what unions describe as an escalating staffing crisis in schools.
In addition, trainees who qualify outside the State will be allowed to complete their training in Irish schools in an attempt to encourage more teachers to return home.
Staff shortages are one of the key issues set to dominate teaching unions’ annual Easter conferences which get under way on Monday afternoon. Unions say hundreds of vacancies are forcing schools to hire unqualified or “out of field” staff to plug gaps in the classroom, especially in the Greater Dublin Area.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee said the new steps would boost job security and make teaching a more attractive and sustainable career.
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New teachers will be fast-tracked into permanent posts to tackle staffing ‘crisis’
“Allowing newly qualified teachers who are starting in September to gain a permanent contract a year earlier will help teachers place their careers on a more stable footing much sooner than before,” she said. “This will provide teachers with the certainty that they need, particularly when applying for mortgages.”
It means new teachers, many of whom will be graduating in the coming weeks, will be able to gain a permanent contract for September 2026, a year earlier than they could previously.
Ms McEntee has also announced she is working with the Teaching Council on “a common sense solution” to allow eligible teachers who have qualified outside Ireland to apply for registration and complete their teaching induction requirement in the State.
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Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Boyle said that while speeding up access to permanent posts was “worth a try”, it was “not a panacea”. He said high living costs, limited career incentives and lack of housing were driving teachers abroad or out of the profession.
The Department of Education says there are now more than 78,000 qualified teachers employed in Ireland, the highest number. However, many schools say they are struggling to fill key vacancies.
The INTO estimates that nearly one-third of primary schools could not fill all of their teaching posts for the current school year – with the crisis most acute in Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare area. It says these schools were forced to hire thousands of unqualified personnel to cover absences or areas they are not qualified for.
At second level the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) says schools are experiencing “ever-worsening difficulties filling vacancies”, a problem exacerbated by the scarcity of affordable accommodation. It says one in five schools has dropped subjects as a result.
Teachers’ annual conferences get under way on Monday with the INTO congress taking place in Galway, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland meeting in Killarney and TUI in Wexford. Ms McEntee will address all three conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Debate at the INTO congress will focus on investment in primary education, teacher workloads and an “escalating teacher supply crisis”.
At second level much of the focus will be on Leaving Cert reforms which teachers’ unions say are being rushed by the Government and risk undermining equity and fairness in the exams against a backdrop of cheating threats posed by new artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
