Ireland’s high-performing education system has long been a badge of honour. Our students are close to the top of the class in global rankings, teaching is still an attractive profession for graduates and we continue to place a strong cultural value on learning.
Yet, it is also a system under real strain. As Minister for Education Helen McEntee continues on her first outing to the teaching unions’ annual conferences, she is hearing of an escalating teacher supply crisis, unqualified staff plugging gaps in schools, acute shortages of special education supports and chronic under-investment.
The teacher shortages afflicting Irish schools are a symptom of a broader and more corrosive national failure: Ireland’s housing crisis. While policymakers have long been aware of challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers, particularly in urban areas, the root causes are often misdiagnosed. It is not just pay scales or access to permanent posts. At its core lies a fundamental disconnect between the cost of living and the ability of teachers to live in the communities they serve.
In the Greater Dublin Area, especially, school principals are finding it increasingly difficult to find substitution cover at primary level or to fill vacancies at second level, especially in key subject areas like maths, science and languages. Many schools are forced to hire unqualified personnel or those teaching outside their specialist area.
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New graduates entering the teaching profession often find themselves priced out of the very cities where demand for their skills is highest. Rent levels have soared beyond what a starting teacher can reasonably afford. Even those with years of experience struggle to find secure and affordable accommodation.
When high quality tuition is compromised, it is the pupils – often in disadvantaged areas – who suffer most. The growing strain on existing staff can leads to burnout, reduced morale and early departures from the profession.
Ireland is not unique. In cities across Europe, many public sector workers are being priced out of areas where they work. Yet Ireland’s case is particularly stark given the scale of the housing shortfall and the slow progress in correcting it.
Helen McEntee’s latest measures – speeding up access to permanent contracts and encouraging emigrant teachers home – are small steps towards improving teacher supply. To make meaningful progress, cost rental schemes for key public sector workers and access to affordable housing need to be considered as part of a more coherent and well-funded strategy.
Teacher retention is not solely an education issue but a wider societal one. Education is one of the cornerstones of a functioning democracy and a thriving economy. If we cannot house our teachers, we cannot educate our children effectively. It is as simple - and as serious - as that.
