Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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917. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her recruitment plans for secondary schools that are faced with losing metalwork and engineering teachers due to a shortage of trained teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20516/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authority, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012).

In accordance with Department Circulars 0044/2019 and 31/2011, schools are required to employ appropriately qualified and registered teachers and ensure that unemployed teachers should be offered employment in preference to those who have retired.

Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment.  The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school managements annually and are available on my Department's website.  Teachers are currently allocated to post primary schools at a ratio of 19:1 in the free education system and 23:1 to schools in the fee charging sector.

In March 2018, the Teacher Supply Steering Group was established.  The Steering Group is leading on the identification of issues, the development of a programme of actions on teacher supply and overseeing its implementation. It is supported by an Implementation Group and a number of working groups which are considering specific areas of policy. 

The Teacher Supply Action Plan, published in November 2018, includes a range of actions under four policy headings: data/research to support teacher supply planning; higher education; policies and arrangements impacting on teacher supply; and communications / promotion of the teaching profession.

A number of measures have been put in place to increase the supply of teachers at post-primary level, particularly in subjects where difficulties in recruitment have been reported.

In the 2019/20 school year, my department introduced the ‘Scheme to Share Teachers between Recognised Post-Primary Schools’ to facilitate an arrangement whereby two schools can share a teacher to teach subjects in both schools. The objectives of the Scheme are to assist schools in filling vacancies in high priority subjects and to enhance teaching hours for teachers in employment on less than full hours.  Circular 0015/2019 refers. 

Our education partners have also put in place a number of measures which are aimed at matching teachers with teaching vacancies.  Turasabhaile, a service developed by the post-primary school management bodies and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, matches registered teachers, resident abroad with post-primary vacancies in schools in Ireland.

The Irish Primary Principals’ Network is also developing a new central portal for the recruitment of teachers to long-term positions in both primary and post-primary schools. It is anticipated that this portal will be available to schools and teachers in the coming period.

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. The campaign uses digital, radio and video media, and is supported by a dedicated webpage, www.gov.ie/teachingtransforms.

My Department will continue, with the cooperation of the education partners, to develop and implement measures to address challenges faced by schools and to support the supply of teachers to our schools.