A survey by The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) reports a staffing shortage of 951 teachers in primary and special schools. The survey, conducted from 30 September to 7 October 2024, gathered responses from 40% of all primary and special schools.
Findings show that “195 permanent posts and 756 long-term temporary or substitute posts are unfilled in these schools.” Data suggests that the crisis is particularly prominent in Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare, “where more than 50% of schools reported unfilled teaching posts.” Dublin has recorded 134 permanent posts vacant since early this year, while Meath and Wicklow counties have also experienced significant increases in the number of vacant posts.
The survey stated that “1,000 long-term substitute posts are expected to become vacant over the next three months with most of these in Dublin and its commuter belt areas.” Vacancies are predicted to continue to rise to 1,816 next January which would create an “overall shortage of 2,767 teachers for the majority of this school year” within primary schools.
The INTO further identified that these schools are increasingly relying “on staff who are not qualified to teach, with 745 employed not registered with the Teaching Council and 1,103 registered teachers, working outside of their qualified sector.
As a result school leaders are experiencing heightened stress levels. According to the survey, 48% of leaders say recruiting staff was just as stressful as the year before, and 33% described it as “extremely stressful.” “19% of principals said they had to make more than 10 attempts—through calls, emails, or substitute portals—to secure a substitute teacher on an urgent basis.”
INTO General Secretary John Boyle says that because of the difficulties school leaders often have to “redeploy Special Education Teachers, thereby compromising the specific supports for children with additional needs. “Special schools were identified as having the highest proportion of vacancies, with 52% of respondents reporting unfilled posts.”
Boyle shares INTO’s upcoming plans to meet with Unesco Boyle to create a project based on strategic planning for primary teachers in Ireland. During the meeting they will advocate for a “teacher supply commission to be established”, tasked with finding solutions to the crisis, and focusing on “financial incentives, job stability and career progression”. He shares that until the crisis is resolved the “Government must take immediate action to increase the number of places on initial teacher education courses by at least 300 places per annum”, warning that “Unless immediate action is taken, particularly to address the housing and living cost pressures in Dublin and other urban centres, this crisis will only worsen”.
