Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.

The recruitment of teachers is a priority area of action for the Department.

My Department has introduced a number of measures aimed at attracting prospective students to teaching, including:

• Budget 2024 provided funding for the introduction of an incentive scheme for newly qualified teachers graduating in 2024. Those newly qualified teachers who graduate with a PME will, subject to some conditions, be eligible for an incentive payment of up to €2,000 in 2025.
• An additional 1,000 posts of responsibility will be provided in the school system for the 2024/25 school year providing additional promotional opportunities for teachers.

These new measures are in addition to a range of targeted measures that have been introduced in recent times to support the supply of teachers in primary and post-primary schools.

• At primary level, I approved 610 additional places on initial teacher education programmes for this and the next academic year (2023/24 and 2024/25).
• In 2023, more than 2,700 3rd and 4th-year undergraduate student teachers registered under Route 5 with the Teaching Council provided valuable support to schools as substitute teachers either while on placement, or in a substitute capacity. Currently, there are over 3,600 registered under Route 5.
• The Teaching Transforms campaign continues to promote the teaching profession and encourage 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

The Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) supports access to initial teacher education from the target groups identified in the National Access Plan. The objectives of PATH 1 are to increase the number of students from under-represented groups entering Initial Teacher Education and provide more role models for students from these groups.

Teaching remains an attractive career choice;

• CAO first preference choices for post-primary teaching increased in 2023 by 14%, in addition to a 9% increase in 2022. CAO preferences for primary teaching showed increases at the closing date in February 2024 with overall mentions up 10% and first preferences increasing by 2% from 2023.
• Currently starting pay for Primary teachers is over €41,000 and over €42,000 for post-primary teachers. The new pay deal, with all three teacher unions having recently voted in favour of, will mean that teachers’ starting salary will increase to €46,000 rising to a maximum of €85,000 per year which compares well internationally. Starting pay of €46,000 will be almost €20,000 higher than the 2011 rates.
• Over 3,700 newly qualified teachers have registered with the Teaching Council in 2023, with over 122,000 now on the Teaching Council register.
• There has been an increase of 20% in the number of students graduating from initial teacher education programmes between 2018 and 2023, and 27% increase in the number registered with the Teaching Council during this period.

My Department continues to engage closely with education stakeholders to develop further, innovative measures to address teacher supply issues.