REPRESENTATIVES FROM SOME of Ireland’s biggest teacher unions will today appeal to TDs and Senators to make it more accessible to become a qualified teacher in order to address the large shortage in the sector.

Representatives from the Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI), the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) will appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth today to discuss issues in the recruitment and retention of teachers. 

TDs and Senators will be told of the need to reform the route to becoming a qualified teacher in Ireland: the Professional Master’s of Education (PME). 

According to the TUI and ASTI, the two-year programme is a “significant financial barrier” to becoming a teacher, particularly for those from lower-income backgrounds. 

The ASTI will tell TDs and Senators that extending the programme from one to two years has been a significant barrier, with the average cost of the programme sitting at approximately €14,700.

“Students often need family support or face taking on large debt, only to enter a profession where initial employment is typically fragmented and insecure,” ASTI general secretary Kieran Christie has said in his opening statement submitted to committee members.

The ASTI has recommended cutting the programme from two years to one year to reduce the financial and time barriers for students.

According to Christie, the shortage of teachers is a “crisis” that has been developing for over a decade but has now reached “a point where it is affecting every part of the school system”. 

Recent data collected by ASTI in 2024 and 2025 has shown that around two-thirds of school leaders report unfilled vacancies, even after multiple rounds of advertising.

The data also shows that many schools rely on non-qualified, out-of-field, or casual teachers, and a significant proportion have had to drop certain subjects entirely.