Professor Pádraig Ó Duibhir:

What we know and the data were mentioned. The Teaching Council prepared a report, entitled Striking the Balance: Teacher Supply in Ireland, in 2015. As a result, the Department has set up the steering group. From memory, the report made 16 main recommendations, one of which was on primary education. The needs in primary education are relatively straightforward to analyse because every primary school teacher is qualified to teach all subjects. Analysing post-primary is more complicated and complex. As Dr. Looney mentioned, we need good data. When there is a crisis like this one, nothing beats having good data, as it allows us to analyse and get to the root cause. Everyone will offer an opinion on what he or she believes is the cause and people will be inclined to speak in promotion of their agendas. Having good data is key and can help to avoid the cyclical nature of the crisis. The steering group set up by the Department needs to be supported and given the resources and time to produce data and implement the recommendations in the Striking the Balance: Teacher Supply in Ireland report.

Regarding complementary subjects, languages are a relevant area. If someone has French, perhaps he or she could upskill in Spanish since he or she has the methodology and knows how to teach a second language. I understand that some modern language teachers have a certain amount of Gaeilge and could upskill to teach it. In upskilling teachers, though, we must be careful not to rob Peter to pay Paul and create a gap somewhere else. Maths and physics were mentioned by Dr. Rowland. There are complementary areas. The key is to incentivise teachers. If I as a teacher have a job teaching two subjects, why would I want to put myself through all of the pain and sweat of learning and getting another qualification? It could be a way for people to renew their enthusiasm, but we would probably need some incentives to get them to do it.