Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not here yesterday for our first day back. I was in Belfast for the Agreement 25 conference. It will go down as one of the best conferences I have ever attended. I had the honour of being in the room and in the presence of George Mitchell when he made his speech on Monday. I felt as though I was in touching distance of history. At this point, it is all the more bewildering that the Assembly is not at the stage of coming together again.

I want to reflect on the teaching conferences that occurred over the Easter period. Many important points were raised and a lot of important responses came from the Minister. I would, therefore, like to ask the Acting Leader for a debate on teaching supply. It is something that affects all of us in our constituencies and it is affecting both primary and secondary schools. I agree that it is about individual choices, and post-primary students in particular should be able to make the choices they want and can foresee in their future career. However, we also have to think about things like STEM, and the lack of teachers in STEM subjects, particularly for girls.

I very much welcome the 610 places for initial primary school teacher training, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. However, I would welcome the opportunity for us to engage with the Minister for Education on both short-term and long-term actions that will solve this issue. As the teachers said, it is about the ability to access full-time jobs and salary. The Minister committed to looking at promotional opportunities and that is important, as is looking at the pensions and allowing retired teachers to work more hours. Access to training colleges are also really important.