The Department of Education is hoping to encourage hundreds of retired staff to return to the classroom to help plug staffing gaps as many second-level schools struggle to find qualified teachers for key subjects.
The use of retirees proved crucial last year when more than 1,700 retired teachers provided substitute cover, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year.
Officials hope to build on this in the coming academic year by extending measures that ease restrictions on the amount of salary retired teachers can earn without it impacting on their pension.
Under existing public pension abatement rules, an individual’s pension is reduced to ensure a retiree does not earn more between their pension and income from employment that they might otherwise earn if they stayed in their original employment.
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However, a 50-day waiver for teachers will extend until the end of next year to help ease staffing pressures in schools.
Teacher shortages are affecting many schools, especially at second level, as the new academic year gets under way.
Vacancies on educationposts.ie this week show there were more than 350 teaching posts at second-level schools being advertised.
Teachers’ unions and principals say a combination of issues such as high rental costs and large volumes of temporary posts are turning teachers off working in the capital, in particular.
Paul Crone, director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), said that while there appear to be more teachers available this year, shortages were most acute in the greater Dublin area and more remote regions.
Among the subject areas where teachers are in shortest supply this year include home economics, woodwork, metalwork and Irish, he said.
“In some cases schools are being forced to narrow their subject offerings by dropping woodwork or home economics from first-year timetables,” he said.
“Others are recruiting unqualified substitutes, such as chefs teaching home economics, to make sure there is someone in front of the class.”
Mr Crone said many schools were finding it “impossible” to fill short-term positions filling in for teaching staff on leave.
“The big complaints we’re hearing is around filling in for parental leave or maternity leave. They can’t find anyone to take those positions, especially when they’re not paid for holidays and there’s no tenure. Finding substitution cover is going to be very difficult,” Mr Crone said.
By contrast, most principals in areas outside the capital, such as Galway and Limerick, were not reporting any difficulties finding qualified teaching staff.
Michael Gillespie, general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), agreed that some schools are dropping subjects or narrowing subject choice in the face of shortages.
“Many schools are dropping home economics and keeping PE, for example, or not offering construction studies and offering more geography instead,” he said.
“There will be capacity to have a teacher in front of students, but that may involve dropping subjects.”
A Department of Education spokesman said there were now “more teachers than ever” working in the Irish education system, with almost 78,650 employed as of last March.
[ ‘Like The Hunger Games’: Teacher shortage forces schools to scramble to fill gapsOpens in new window ]
However, he said it was accepted that some schools are facing challenges and the department was taking a range of steps to boost supply.
This includes increasing the number of student teachers by 20 per cent since 2018, as well as expanding teaching posts at primary and second level by 13 and 17 per cent, respectively.
He also pointed to a new €2,000 fee refund scheme for teachers graduating with a professional master of education in 2024. This is aimed at incentivising newly qualified teachers to take up teaching roles.
Latest figures also show the crucial role that student teachers have played in providing substitute cover to schools.
In the last year more than 3,700 were registered to substitute in June 2024, up from 2,700 that were registered in the previous school year.
He said teaching remains an attractive career choice with more than 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2023, and more than 122,000 now on the register.
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