Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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380. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of vacant home economics teaching posts that exist at second level in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8167/23]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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388. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the current vacancies in home economics teaching posts in post-primary schools. [8204/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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398. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the current vacancies in home economic teaching posts in post-primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8323/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 380, 388 and 398 together.

The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authorities, subject to procedures agreed upon under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012). My Department does not currently collate data on vacant home economics posts in post-primary schools.

The recruitment of teachers is a priority area of action for the Department given the importance of ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have available to them qualified, engaged, and supportive teachers to support them in their learning.

My Department is undertaking a comprehensive programme to support the supply of teachers. A number of measures are being implemented, including:

- a range of special, temporary arrangements introduced by HEIs to create a greater capacity for student teachers to provide substitute cover,

- adjustment of the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) to reduce the need for substitution and to provide additional personnel to support schools,

- increasing the additional hours that post-primary teachers can teach each term from 20 to 35 for the remainder of the 2022/23 school year,

- launching a communications campaign to encourage retired teachers to take up short-term substitute positions and to enable them to teach for up to 50 days in each of the calendar years 2021 to 2023 without, in most cases, a reduction in their pension,

- providing the allocated staffing resources for the 2023/34 school year to post-primary schools on 26 January and to primary schools on 31 January, - introduction, by the Teaching Council of regulations, to allow the registration of 3rd and 4th-year undergraduate student teachers, with more than 2,600 student teachers now registered,

- providing for fully funded upskilling programmes in mathematics, physics and Spanish. Beginning with 170 places in January 2021, I have agreed to increase places to over 300 in 2023, and a new Irish upskilling programme is planned for 2023/24,

- providing for the allocation of a significant number of additional posts to primary substitute teacher supply panels in areas where significant challenges in sourcing substitution continue. This brings the total to 610 posts on 151 panels covering more than 2,840 schools,

- allowing job-sharing teachers to be employed to work in a substitute capacity, during the period they are rostered off duty, in their own or in other schools on a temporary basis for the 2022/23 school year, and

- suspending, on a temporary basis, the limits on substitute work that apply to teachers on a career break for the 2022/23 school year.

These measures are underpinned by the Teaching Transforms campaign which promotes the teaching profession and encourages students to follow a career in teaching.

Despite the positive impact of these important actions, work remains to be done 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 to develop and implement creative solutions to address the teacher supply challenges for schools.