School principals wrote to the Minister for Education of "sleepless nights” and being “worn out” from trying to find teachers to fill vacancies in their classrooms.
In letters to Minister Norma Foley, principals – especially in Dublin – explained how it was proving impossible to hire staff even as other teachers were leaving due to the high cost of living and high rents.
One wrote of having spent their entire summer trying to fill ten posts, for which they had managed to find five teachers.
However, when the remaining five jobs were advertised, there were just two applications.
The principal wrote: “I am literally having sleepless nights about this.
Extremely stressful year
“I have spent all of my summer holidays engaged with this and feel I have had no headspace to take a break from school after an extremely stressful year.”
Another wrote about the “staffing crisis” in Dublin especially when it came to filling vacancies in DEIS schools, which are in areas that are considered socially disadvantaged.
They wrote: “This summer holiday has been absolutely exhausting searching for teachers - interviewing and then people finding something more suitable, current teachers contacting me to say they are relocating out of Dublin as they cannot afford to live here.
“Other teachers saying they do not know how much longer they will be able to stay, new teachers accepting the post [on the basis of] accommodation pending.”
They pleaded for a Dublin allowance or a DEIS allowance to help support and attract teachers to the capital.
The letters were all sent to the Department of Education in the period since August last year and were released under FOI.
One parent wrote about being contacted by a school to say that special educational needs teachers would have to be used to teach day-to-day classes.
Children being denied
“This is utterly disgraceful that the most vulnerable children are being denied the help they need,” their email to the minister said.
Even students wrote with one explaining the “travesty” of how they were studying engineering for their Leaving Cert, only to return to sixth year to discover no teacher could be found for the subject.
The message said: “The school informed us that we can still take engineering for our leaving certificate exams, but we would forfeit 50 per cent of the grade, as due to department policy we cannot participate in the practical and project elements in the absence of an engineering teacher.”
One principal asked what they were supposed to tell the parents of kids with special educational needs losing out due to teaching shortages.
“It is completely unacceptable that children who need Special Education teaching will miss out on extremely valuable tuition,” said their email.
Another student wrote of missing no less than 83 classes since they had begun sixth year due to extreme shortages of teachers.
Multiple subjects
“This equates to two weeks and three days lost,” they said, “where I was in school and willing to learn. One of my peers is down teachers for three of her Leaving Cert subjects - Engineering, Spanish and Biology.”
A teacher wrote of being pushed to “breaking point” working in a school that was desperately short of resources.
They said: “What are you doing to keep the teachers in this country? I know so many great teachers who have emigrated due to the lack of support, undesirable working conditions and terrible pay!”
Asked about the records, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “While some schools face challenges in recruiting teachers, most positions are filled, and resignation rates remain low.”
Budget 2024
They said there had been measures in Budget 2024 to give incentives to newly qualified teachers and efforts were continuing to bring retired teachers back to the classroom.
The spokesperson added: “The student-to-teacher ratio in primary schools is at its lowest, and teaching remains an attractive career, evidenced by increased CAO first preferences and competitive starting pay.
“The Department continue to engage with the representatives of schools, staff and learners on a regular basis to develop further measures to address teacher supply.”
By Ken Foxe & Beat News
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