THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS to show greater flexibility in the measures that it implements to tackle the ongoing staffing crisis in Irish schools, the Teacher’s Union of Ireland (TUI) has said.

TUI General Secretary Martin Gillespie said that while “serious targeted investment” in the next Budget is important, there are measures which could be introduced now that would go a long way towards alleviating the issues.

“For example, the Department must announce that it will allow schools to employ teachers on a permanent basis after the traditional cut-off point at the end of October, a regulation which acts as a serious deterrent for potential appointments,” he said.

He also pointed out the challenges that many teachers returning from work abroad face when trying to access incremental credit for their time overseas.

Speaking on Morning Ireland this morning, Tonya Hanly, principal of Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Inchicore, Co Dublin, said that she is currently trying to fill seven vacancies. Two of these are from substitute teachers she was forced to send home after the Department of Education told her she could not employ them.

She called the department’s handling of the crisis “disgraceful”.

“It’s really challenging for us to manage the needs of our children here, which are extensive, with almost a third of our staff missing,” she said.

She said that the Covid practice of banking hours is one solution that could be implemented immediately. This lets schools bank substitute hours that they lose at the start of year, and allows for “short bursts of intervention which are vital for children’s progress at the end of the school year.”

The problem is not one restricted to primary schools.

Speaking to The Journal last month, Kieran Christie, General Secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) said that the crisis in secondary schools was leading to principals being forced to take on “unqualified teachers”.

“What’s happening quite frankly is that they’re putting people in classrooms who aren’t teachers,” he said.

Unqualified teachers are those who may have a degree in their subject of choice, but who have not completed their teaching qualification. Schools are allowed to hire them on a temporary basis, under the condition they complete their qualification within three years.

He said that the department needs to take a step back and look at a “real reset” to address the crisis, which, he said, is only getting worse.