Mr. John Boyle:

There was a crisis in substitution over the past two years. We identified that crisis coming down the tracks and dreamed up the idea of having panels available to cover teaching principals' release days. The substitutes on those panels were taken up very quickly. The substitute teachers were given a job for the year and, as such, their employment was no longer precarious. They covered several schools and gave certainty to everybody involved, including pupils, parents and principals, that absences would be covered by a person known to the school. Last year, we built on that project. We established a very successful small pilot scheme entitled the supply panel scheme. The 18 teachers involved were based in only six schools but covered a total of 90 schools. It was cost neutral because instead of being paid the daily rate they would have received anyway, the substitutes were guaranteed work for the year. They were not idle. Even during Covid-19, they continued to work with their classes remotely. We think that is the solution for primary schools.

The Deputy asked from where we will get substitute teachers.

It appears to us that it will be from the number of trained teachers who have come back from abroad. Obviously, they are still waiting for pay equality but they have returned due to Covid-19. They are not really able to get off the island at the moment and are happy to stay here and help out, just like when the nurses came back to help out. We want to ensure the teachers who have returned stay here. We want to ensure they are paid and brought into the primary education system to support us in this crisis and afterwards to get the class sizes down.

I do not imagine there is any concern about teacher supply in the primary sector if it is managed properly. Why would a teacher stay around this country working when she is not guaranteed more than two or three days in the month? If we can get the system right from September, we will have enough substitutes to deal with that. I have a bigger query. Can we open the schools? I believe we can. Can we keep them open? Certainly not if we do not have substitutes. It is possible if there is some creative thinking and some funding put in place.