Fr. Paul Connell:

On behalf of the Joint Managerial Body and the 380 voluntary secondary schools whose management authorities I represent, I very much welcome the invitation. We have been experiencing difficulties with teacher supply since 2014. The problem has been getting worse over the four years. We are delighted that this is finally being taken seriously, after four years. We have consistently surveyed the problem since 2014. In the area of Irish, modern languages, home economics and the STEM subjects, particular difficulties have arisen. In my case, for example, there was maternity leave by an Irish teacher at the beginning of the summer. After advertising for the third time in August, I got one qualified applicant. When I contacted the person, the reply I got was, "What can you offer me, Father?" Therefore, it is a difficult space. I ended up doubling up classes; I could not get a teacher. That has been replicated across the country.

The technical working group began its work and completed it in 2015. The report was not published for two years. As I said, we are delighted this is finally being taken seriously. I am not going to go over the ground of our submission. We suggest, however, a number of things that will help to alleviate the problem. The Minister has announced a number of initiatives. We welcome those, as my colleague Mr. Irwin said.

In the area of retired teachers, encouraging some involvement by retired teachers would help to alleviate the situation in terms of abating the pension issue and so on. Some incentives could be given there. With regard to teachers now considering retirement, the retirement age is being raised to 70. Teachers on job-share are not allowed to do substitute work. Some would be available to do a small amount of substitute work, which would help greatly the schools that are in difficulty. That should be considered. Also, teachers on career break can act in a substitution capacity for up to 300 hours in the year. That could be extended. Again, that would help.

Another situation we find ourselves up against is the five-day rule. This was introduced to solve a perceived difficulty, particularly in the national schools, in which there were many unqualified teachers teaching. By restricting the number of days that unqualified teachers could teach, the objective was to solve that difficulty. It has caused a severe difficulty for us, however. Over the past two weeks we have had oral and practical examinations in our schools. We can on these occasions get hold of people who might not be qualified teachers but who have very good language skills. They could do very good work for perhaps ten days of the two weeks but cannot be hired for more than five school days. That is a matter that could be examined also.

The old higher diploma has now been extended to a master in education degree of two years. Serious consideration should be given to allowing conditional registration, which means those concerned could be paid for doing work in schools. If one considers apprenticeships in other areas, one notes there is payment for working, as in nursing and other professions. Therefore, I do not see why it cannot be extended in some fashion to teaching. This would really be a big help.

Mr. Irwin mentioned affordable living space, of which the committee has to be mindful. We find the problem with teacher supply is exacerbated in Dublin, particularly in areas of Dublin where it is very expensive to live and very expensive to travel owing to traffic and other factors. The pay issue was mentioned by the representatives of the TUI.

I acknowledge that the third level colleges say their remit is more than teacher training but they have a role in this. The whole mismatch of supply needs to be addressed urgently. There is an issue with having a huge supply of teachers in subject areas for which we do not need them and none in areas where they are needed urgently. Something has to give and something has to be done about that.

These are the areas I wanted to highlight. The committee has our submission. I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute.