Difficulties in staffing secondary schools threaten the availability of subjects needed to sustain the Republic’s skill base, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) warned today.
Commenting on preliminary findings of a TUI survey on recruitment and retention, the union’s president Mr John MacGabhann said today; "The subject areas with teacher shortages are expanding so the problem is more deep-rooted than assumed till now."
To overcome this, appropriate salaries must be offered to make teaching attractive as a career, he said.
The survey, conducted among principal teachers as part of the union’s pay claim, revealed "critical shortages" of qualified teachers in practical technology subjects and a "serious shortage" of teachers for the sciences, Irish and modern languages.
"The survey showed there is an absolute shortage of teachers for metal and wood work, engineering, and building/construction - all vital subjects in sustaining the skill base of the economy," said Mr MacGabhann.
Difficulties in recruiting teachers for home economics, information technology, guidance counselling, religion and physical education also emerged.
"For graduates or first entrants the starting salary is too low and progression is too slow, while to retain people there needs to be additional incentives and higher scales," said Mr MacGabhann.
The incentive to attract people from industry "is simply not there" he said.
"We are hoping the Benchmarking Body will address this problem and will do so in the manner we are suggesting by improving teachers pay," Mr MacGabhann said. Short-term fixes will not do the TUI warned.