Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the recent statement by a person (details supplied) that there is a crisis in teacher recruitment and that special education needs teachers are being diverted to other classes simply to keep schools open; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58364/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the statement to which the Deputy refer which details challenges some primary schools are facing in recruiting teachers.

The Department of Education runs a comprehensive programme of work to support the supply of teachers at primary level.

It is important to note that recent policy decisions to support primary schools have seen significant additional posts allocated, such as the expansion of the primary substitute teacher supply panels in areas where significant challenges in sourcing substitution is reported. There are currently 610 posts allocated on 151 panels, covering more than 2,840 schools, including the majority of schools in Dublin.

The supply panels work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers and schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.

Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) represent an additional source of supply in 2022/23. Nearly 1,900 primary NQTs have had their registrations finalised by the Teaching Council in 2022.

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 both schools and teachers. I understand that the portal will be available in the coming weeks.

In addition, Sub Seeker a central portal for short-term substitute vacancies, was jointly developed by IPPN and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principal’s (NAPD) in accordance with my Department's Teacher Supply Action Plan and launched in December 2019. The portal matches available primary and post-primary teachers with short-term substitute vacancies. Almost 12,000 teachers have registered with Sub Seeker to date.

A number of measures to enhance teacher supply have also been put in place for the current school year.

Job sharing teachers may be employed to work in a substitute capacity during the period they are rostered off, in their own or in other schools

The limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career break have also been temporarily suspended for the 2022/23 school year.

Retired teachers who have kept their Teaching Council registration represent a source of substitute cover for schools. In that regard the Department agreed with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform a waiver of abatement for retired teachers returning to teach for up to 50 days in each of the three calendar years, 2021 to 2023 inclusive. In 2021, almost 800 retired primary teachers provided substitute cover in schools.

The Teaching Council made regulations allowing for the registration of 3rd and 4th year undergraduate student teachers under a new registration route, Route 5 (Student Teachers). More than 2,100 student teachers applied to date for registration under Route 5. 1,245 have registered and more than 900 applications are currently being processed. Once registered with the Teaching Council, student teachers can be employed by a school to cover substitutable vacancies.

The provision of education for children with special needs is an ongoing priority for Government. The additional Special Education Teaching (SET) Resources which are provided to a school under the SET model are specifically allocated to support our most vulnerable learners. These resources cannot therefore be used for mainstream class teaching, or to reduce the pupil teacher ratio in mainstream classes, or to provide additional subjects for pupils who do not have special educational needs.

It is essential that schools must ensure that the additional SET supports are used in their entirety to support pupils identified with special educational needs, learning support needs, and additional literacy needs.

The SET resources provided to schools are based on special education needs of the pupils enrolled in the school and the resources must be utilised to ensure that students with special education needs are supported so that they can achieve the best possible educational outcome.

Any redirection of these resources to other school roles has a direct impact on those students in our educational system with greatest need of SET support.

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 on Gov.ie.

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