Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning. This remains a top priority. My Department regularly consults with key stakeholders to address critical issues like teacher supply. Further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce are being considered.

As with other sectors, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply issues, my 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
• between 2018 and 2024 there has been a significant increase of 5,621 (13.08%) primary allocated teaching posts.

Measures introduced to tackle teacher shortages include a Professional Master of Education (PME) fee refund scheme. This is a €2,000 bursary-style fee refund scheme payment, subject to statutory deductions, for teachers graduating with a 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 and a portal opened recently for applications.

My Department also commenced a teacher workforce planning project in October. The project, supported by UNESCO and the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support is focusing on strategic workforce planning for teachers in Ireland.

A range of teacher education actions are funded by the department under the Policy on Gaeltacht Education to increase the supply of teachers available to teach effectively through the medium of Irish in Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools.

Funding is provided for an Irish-medium B.Ed. for primary teachers, which is delivered by Marino Institute of Education. Two cohorts – 68 students in total – have graduated from this programme since its establishment in 2019, and 165 students are currently enrolled on the programme.

Funding is also provided for an M.Ed. in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education for practicing teachers and school leaders and this programme is currently being delivered by Trinity College Dublin. 48 students are enrolled on this programme for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The Department has been working on an analysis of the teacher workforce. Data for March 2024 showed there were over 43,000 qualified primary teachers employed in Ireland including special schools. My Department expects to make the data available in the near future.

My Department frequently consults and engages closely with stakeholders on issues such as teacher supply through industrial relations forums, sectoral meetings, and direct discussions with teacher unions and school management bodies.

I am considering further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce and ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning.

As with other sectors, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply issues, my 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
• Between 2018 and 2024 there has been a significant increase of 5,621 (13.08%) primary, and 6,006 (17.42%) post-primary allocated teaching posts.

Measures introduced in recent budgets, included a STEM bursary, a PME fee refund scheme and an expansion of upskilling programmes, which are in addition to workforce planning for teachers and SNAs, reflect the commitment to ongoing investment in the education system to address teacher supply.

The Department has been working on an analysis of the teacher workforce. Data for March 2024 showed there were over 78,000 qualified teachers employed in Ireland with over 43,000 at primary level including special schools and over 35,000 in post-primary schools. There are less than 1% resignations in the primary sector each year and 1.6% in post-primary. The number of teachers who retired over the past number of years has varied, with 932 in 2013 and 1,074 in 2023. My Department expects to make these and other data available in the near future.

I am considering further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce and ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.