Half of the country’s secondary schools have unfilled teaching vacancies and low starting pay is the main reason why the profession is being shunned, a new survey has revealed.
The disclosure comes as the three teachers unions begin their annual conferences where the issue of equal pay for newer teachers is among the main concerns for delegates.
Primary teachers union the INTO as well as the ASTI will open debate with motions calling for pay equality for teachers who began teaching post 2010.
Around 850 delegates representing 3,600 primary schools gathered in Galway on Monday for the Irish National Teachers Organisation’s conference.
Pay as well as industrial relations and school funding were some of the issues discussed amid calls for pay equality for teachers who began teaching after 2010.
All three unions say some progress has been made since delegates last debated this issue but their members are unhappy that full equal pay has yet to be achieved.
Secondary teacher unions the ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland will open their annual conferences in Wexford and Killarney on Tuesday.
Separately, a survey of principals and deputy principals in 120 second level schools found that there is severe teacher recruitment and retention problems.
The study found that 94% of schools experienced teacher recruitment difficulties in the last six months while 63% of schools had teacher retention problems in the same period.
Trinity College Dublin student at centre of 'poisoning plot' of his housemates
It also revealed that 68% of schools advertised positions to which no teacher applied over the last six months while
47% of schools have unfilled teaching vacancies.
TUI President Seamus Lahart said that the findings make clear that a continuing system of pay discrimination is having a severely damaging effect on the education system.
He said: “This survey was carried out in recent weeks and was responded to by principals and deputy principals of a sixth of the country’s second level schools.
“It comprehensively illustrates the difficulties that school management are facing on a daily basis. Schools in both urban and rural areas are routinely struggling to attract applicants to fill vacant positions.
Over 90% of Irish parents want their children to learn science in primary school
"Clearly, graduates who might formerly have chosen teaching are now looking at other options.
“Progress has been made in terms of addressing pay discrimination, but as the biggest inequalities are experienced in the first few years following initial appointment, the two-tier system continues to have a significant negative effect on the attractiveness of the profession and on the recruitment and retention of teachers.”
Mr Lahart said the only way to attract more teachers to the profession is to restore pay.
He added: “The only guaranteed solution to this problem is clear - the remaining differences in pay between those appointed before and after 1st January 2011 need to be removed as a matter of urgency.”
