Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry for missing the start of the session. I had to give a presentation elsewhere. I wish to make a couple of comments and observations and perhaps ask one question. I am not completely set against the idea of live streaming classes. I support many schools that lack resources and whose classes I would love to see live streamed as opposed to how they are currently provided. I have told the committee of how my daughter's school did not replace an Irish teacher during the leaving certificate year for more than three months. That absence meant the class did nothing. In such a situation, there was an opportunity for another teacher's class to be live streamed. Rather than using it all year round, though, live streaming could be very useful in providing cover where crises or small gaps occur and where the only other option is to provide no education.

My next point might be tied to the issue of the teacher shortage, that being, how our young people are being failed by having teachers handle subjects that they should not be teaching. Are teachers in those positions because there is a shortage and they have to take the jobs? For example, if an entire Spanish or French class is failing, it is suggested that it has to be the children's fault, not the teacher's. Are teachers being shoehorned into classes that they are not qualified to give? I do not know whether this has always happened or whether it is because of the shortage. Has it always been the case that some teachers are just not up to a certain standard of quality or interest in the subjects they are teaching and that this has had an impact?

I agree with the points about pay scales and so on and I understand how we could transform this situation were we to improve teachers' conditions. In most of the schools that I have attended and visited, though, I have seen teachers giving classes to foundation and higher level students in the same room. Those kids are being dragged into having the same standard of teaching even though they are all at different levels. Virtual learning could play a role in this regard, but does the fact that these schools are not creating enough classrooms to meet the individual needs of their teachers have anything to do with the teacher shortage? Would it be addressed by tackling the shortage?

Is the shortage of teachers causing them to be in classrooms where they should not be? Thinking back to my own education, which was nearly 20 years ago, I sat in many classrooms where we were just handed out a worksheet or workbook, especially where Irish was concerned. Regardless of whether there has been a shortage of teachers, there has been a deficit in the teaching of Irish in schools for a long time. Can we diversify the teaching profession in terms of how Irish is taught, particularly DEIS schools, and can we create more opportunities for the migrant community and kids from working-class communities to become teachers? Many of the people in those populations are rooted in their communities and would be less likely to move to Dubai, or they are mature students who have no education and do not have a standard of maths or Irish. Is there room to create targeted programmes to get them into teaching? For some, the maths and Irish requirements can be an obstacle to entering the profession. If we diversify the profession, can we address the shortage with that long-term view?