Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department provides a payroll service to over 3,700 primary, secondary, community and comprehensive schools.

The number of teachers allocated for the 2022 / 2023 school year was 42,739 in primary schools and 34,250 in post primary schools. This has been an increase of over 17,000 teachers employed in our schools over the 10 year period from the school years (2011/2012 - 2022/2023).

Based on the information provided by schools to the Department’s Payroll Division, since 1^stSeptember 2022, the number of contracted teachers who have indicated they were not returning to teach in their school, and who did not take up a position in another primary, secondary, community or comprehensive school is as follows:

• 39 teachers in primary schools
• 72 teachers in non ETB post primary schools.

Some of the teachers who have indicated that they are not returning to teach may have taken up employment in the ETB sector.

The Board of Management of schools are the employer of teachers and the recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for each individual school authority. Therefore teachers will notify school management, in writing, of their intention to resign.

In general, teachers are required to provide three months’ notice to their Board of Management specifying the date on which they will be leaving.The school can pay the teacher up to that leaving date and this information is communicated to my Department’s payroll service.

Employee turnover is a key concern for employers across many different sectors of the economy both in Ireland and internationally.In an Irish context this is highlighted in the latest CIPD Ireland HR Practices in Ireland report which reports that a third of employers have reported a voluntary turnover rate of 16% or higher.This is a significant increase from 2022 when 21% of employers experienced the same level of worker departures.

The resignation figures experienced by other sectors is not reflected in the Education sector. It’s therefore positive that the numbers of teachers reported as resigning is consistent with previous years and the number of resignations accounts for less than half a percent of the overall number of teachers allocated to schools.

We are deeply fortunate in Ireland to have such a highly skilled, engaged, and committed teaching workforce. It is of immense benefit to our children and young people and to our society as a whole.

I was also pleased to note that CAO first preference choices for post-primary teaching have increased this year by 11%.This is very positive and reflects on the Teaching Transforms campaign which promotes the teaching profession and encourages students to follow a career in teaching.

In that context, I am also pleased to be able to approve 610 additional places on Initial Teacher Education programmes over the next two academic years.

My Department is continuing to engage closely with school management bodies, teacher unions and other education stakeholders to develop further, innovative measures to improve the availability of teachers.