Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the Seanad on the issues of teacher supply and places in post-primary schools. Both topics are equally and extremely important. The delivery of high-quality teaching and learning is a key priority for the Department of Education and for all who work in the education sector. Equally important is that children and their families can expect to have access to a school place. This takes significant work and co-operation on the part of many people in the education system, including, most importantly, those working in schools every day. They include our school leaders and school staff, amply and ably supported by boards of management and parents.

I will take this opportunity to outline some of the key ongoing initiatives and work in the areas of teacher supply and the provision of places at post-primary level. Teaching remains an attractive career choice for our young people, as evidenced by the significant number who elect to pursue teacher training at undergraduate and graduate level. The number of newly qualified teachers registering annually with the Teaching Council has increased in recent years. More than 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered in 2022 and the total number of teachers on the council's register is more than 118,000. Despite this, it is acknowledged that challenges exist for some schools in sourcing teachers. The Department of Education has a comprehensive programme of work to support teacher supply and, in addition, a range of new short-term measures are being progressed.

I have met a number of teacher education providers to discuss possible flexibilities in their programme delivery to support the availability of student teachers to fill substitute positions. I am pleased that the higher education institutions have responded very positively to my request. I want to place on record my appreciation for their helpful co-operation, which provides for a greater flexibility and availability of student teachers in schools. The Department's teacher support services have deferred some planned continuing professional development, CPD, training for the period to the end of March, thus reducing the need for substitution and providing additional personnel to support schools. In the current school year, the Department has put in place a scheme that allows post-primary teachers to teach additional hours in their subject area. The maximum number of additional hours per term a teacher may teach has been increased this year from 20 hours to 35 hours.

A communications campaign has been launched to encourage retired teachers to take up short-term substitute positions. Retired teachers may teach for up to 50 days in each of the calendar years 2021 to 2023 without reducing their pension. In 2022, almost 870 retired primary teachers and more than 220 retired post-primary teachers provided substitute cover in schools, representing a significant increase over 2021.

My Department provided details of the allocated teaching resources for the 2023-24 school year to post-primary schools on 26 January and to primary schools on 31 January. This will allow schools to commence recruitment for the coming school year much earlier than was the case last year. The Teaching Council, on a time-bound basis, will now accept applications from primary and post-primary teachers who have qualified outside of Ireland but have not completed the statutory period of induction in the country in which they qualified. This will enable them to complete induction, known as Droichead, in Ireland. This is in accordance with the Teaching Council (Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2023. The application process for these teachers will open on 22 February 2023 and remain open until 1 February 2024. The Teaching Council is also reviewing its registration application process for teachers who qualify overseas to enhance efficiencies.

A number of other measures are already in place for the current school year. There is provision for the allocation of additional posts to substitute primary teacher supply panels. For the 2022-23 school year, there are 151 supply panels nationally, with an allocation of 610 posts covering 2,847 schools. On a temporary basis for the current school year, job-sharing teachers may be employed to work as substitutes during the period they are rostered off duty. The limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career break have been suspended. Third- and fourth-year undergraduate student teachers can now register with the Teaching Council. We are seeing the full impact of this measure in this school year. So far, more than 2,500 student teachers have registered. This initiative supports the employment of student teachers to cover substitutable vacancies.

Following from the Department's action plan on teacher supply, the Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN, has developed a portal for the recruitment of teachers to long-term teaching positions.The portal will facilitate the matching of demand and supply and provide an efficient and user-friendly recruitment process for all schools and teachers. I understand this facility will be available shortly and I strongly recommend and urge all schools to avail of the service for recruitment for the 2023-24 school year.

Free programmes are available for post-primary teachers to upskill in particular subjects in which teacher supply has proved challenging, including mathematics, Spanish and physics. These programmes commenced in January 2021 and approximately 170 places were provided in the first intake, with an increase to more than 340 places this year. It is also intended to introduce a new course for teachers to upskill in Irish in the coming school year. In addition, higher education institutes have developed four-year initial teacher education undergraduate programmes in a number of post-primary priority subjects, including Irish, mathematics, computer science, modern foreign languages and home economics. These new programmes mean more post-primary teachers can qualify in four years instead of six and at a lower cost.

The various measures to support teacher supply are underpinned by the Teaching Transforms campaign, which promotes the teaching profession and encourages students to follow a career in teaching. While the positive impact of these actions is important, work will continue to address teacher supply challenges, particularly to ensure the availability of sufficient numbers of substitute teachers. My Department continues to work intensively with all stakeholders and partners in education to develop and implement creative solutions to address the teacher supply challenges for schools.

I will deal now with school places. To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data from the Department of Social Protection and my Department's school enrolment databases, is analysed to identify where the pressure for school places throughout the country will arise. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department's projections of school place requirements.

Where data indicate additional provision is required at primary or post-primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case. This is done through either one or a combination of methods, namely, utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools, extending the capacity of a school or schools, and provision of a new school or schools. My Department has a strong track record of delivery of school building projects. This was achieved again in 2022, notwithstanding the wider construction sector environment of high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. Key achievements by the Department in 2022 include the delivery of approximately 180 school building projects during 2022, with a further 273 projects continuing in construction at the start of 2023, most of which will be completed this year. There is accelerated delivery of modular accommodation to facilitate additional capacity in special classes and special schools to cater for more than 900 children with additional needs. Another achievement is supporting the enrolment of more than 13,500 children from Ukraine in our primary and post-primary schools.

My Department is currently assessing its work programme and priorities for 2023. Key priorities include continuing strong delivery to support the operation of the school system, with particular regard to planning ahead for the 2023-24 school year and beyond. In this regard, I am very conscious of the need to continue to establish more special classes at both primary and post-primary level and to increase capacity in special schools. We will also need to continue the great work done in 2022 in supporting and facilitating the enrolment of children from Ukraine and other countries under the international protection system. I acknowledge and salute what our school communities throughout the country have achieved in supporting these young people and helping them to settle into school life.

I am also appreciative of the strong support provided by the Government for the education budget. As part of the supplementary budget, €300 million in additional capital funding was provided in 2022. This reflected the strong delivery by my Department of school building projects to support both mainstream and special education needs provision. As part of its planning ahead for 2023, the Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in regard to capital funding pressures.

Notwithstanding these efforts, my Department is aware of increasing enrolment pressures in some areas. It is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, they may not necessarily be a result of lack of accommodation. There are other factors that may be driving pressure on enrolments. One of these is duplication of applications, whereby pupils have applied for a place in a number of schools in an area. Another factor is the desire for a place in a school of choice. Pupils sometimes cannot get a place in their preferred school if there are places available in other schools in their town or area. In addition, some towns or areas have single-sex schools, which means that even if places are available in the school, they are not available to all pupils. There is also the external draw factor, which leads to pupils coming to a school from outside the local area.

The Department of Education works to establish the true extent of any capacity issues across school planning areas through ongoing discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities. That work is ongoing in respect of enrolment pressures in many areas for the 2023-24 school year. This close engagement will allow my Department to identify particular capacity requirements for September 2023 and forthcoming years that may necessitate further action to what is already in train, including, where required, the provision of modular accommodation solutions. I assure the House that the Department is committed to ensuring the provision of the necessary school places to meet the needs of all children and is working to identify and deliver the required solutions in collaboration with schools and patrons.