Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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480. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the full details of all unfilled posts across the Dún Laoghaire constituency, by school. [45108/24]

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 and appointment of teachers for teaching positions is managed by individual school authorities. There are over 3,700 individual school authorities, responsible for this process, including boards of management at primary and post-primary schools, as well as Education and Training Boards (ETBs).

While my Department does not collect data on the recruitment by individual employers, an analysis of the Department’s payroll system is being undertaken to generate statistics on the teacher workforce. This will include statistics on the full time equivalents (FTE), permanent and fixed contracts, with breakdowns possible by county. These data are expected to be available in the near future.

Schools that experience recruitment challenges can avail of a number of supports that my department has implemented including:

• providing for the provision of supply panels at primary level; for the 2024/25 school year, 591 substitute teacher supply posts have been allocated to 167 panels, covering 2,900 schools.
• enabling student teachers to substitute; over 3,700 student teachers were registered with the Teaching Council to substitute in June 2024, up from 2,700 that were registered in the previous school year.
• enabling newly qualified teachers (NQTs) employed in primary schools to complete the Droichead process while employed on a Supply Panel or Principal Release Time Post, increasing the attractiveness of these posts.
• increasing the pool of teachers available to undertake substitute work, through the continued suspension of the usual limits on career break and job-sharing schemes and the continuation of the teaching hours’ extension scheme in post-primary schools to 2024/25 school year.
• encouraging retired teachers to work as substitute teachers; in the 2023/24 school year, over 1,700 retired teachers provided substitute cover, an increase of 12% on the previous year.

While most teaching positions are filled, some schools face significant recruitment challenges. To address teacher supply issues, the Department has implemented several measures that have led to:

• an increase of 20% in Initial Teacher Education graduates (student teachers)between 2018 and 2023, and a 30% increase in the number registered with the Teaching Council since 2017, and
• a 16.7% increase in the number of teaching posts allocated to post-primary, and an increase of 13.3% allocated to primary between 2017/18 and 2023/24.

• Budget 2025 included a bursary for student teachers to increase the number of qualified STEM (including science, maths, chemistry, physics, engineering) teachers in post-primary schools. The bursary, a €2k payment each year for the final two years of their undergraduate initial teacher education programme, is contingent on a commitment to complete a minimum 2 years post-qualification teaching service in a recognised post primary school.
• Budget 2024 also included the expansion of upskilling programmes, free to teachers, aimed at increasing the number of qualified teachers in high-demand subjects and reducing out-of-field teaching. New programmes in Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science will complement existing programmes in maths, physics, and Spanish. Trinity College Dublin will deliver the new Irish upskilling programme for post-primary.
• Budget 2025 continued funding for free upskilling courses for teachers in high-demand subject areas (Irish, French, Spanish, maths, computer science, physics, politics & society).
• Budget 2024 introduced a €2,000 bursary-style fee refund for teachers graduating with a Professional Master of Education (PME) in 2024. This payment, to be made in 2025, aims to encourage newly qualified primary and post-primary teachers to take up teaching roles.A circular issued in September from my department setting out the eligibility criteria.

• With 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2024 and over 123,000 now on the register.
• Analysis of CAO applications spanning from 2017 to 2024 indicates a sustained and robust demand for undergraduate teaching programmes. On average, 6% of first preference applications during the period from 2017 to 2024 were for either primary or post-primary teaching programmes.
• The new pay deal will mean that teachers’ starting salary will increase to €46,000 rising to a maximum of €85,000 per year which compares well internationally.