Almost half of teachers are at risk of leaving the profession due to the stresses imparted by staffing shortages, a crisis that\u2019s been put on the back burner by government, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins.<\/p>\n
Deputy Cummins, the party\u2019s spokesperson on Education, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nonchalance of successive education ministers\u2019 actions has failed to put a dent in this crisis, which continues to worsen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pain and strife experienced by teachers, special needs assistants, principals and school staff comes as no surprise when they\u2019re shouldering burdens fitting of twice the number of staff many schools have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DCU report\u2019s findings show that the government\u2019s lack of action in addressing this catastrophe will only lead to it deepening, with 42% of teachers surveyed unlikely to remain in the profession long-term, exasperating the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 400 teaching posts at second level were unfilled last year, while a further 800 were occupied by teachers not qualified to teach the subject they were delivering – students are receiving subpar standards of education as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister should be encouraging new teachers to remain in Ireland after they qualify. That means giving them permanent, full-time jobs on their initial appointment instead of temporary, precarious employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn January, a particularly concerning report showed that 75 per cent of schools with teacher vacancies received no applications after they advertised the positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to lose talented teacher graduates to other countries if the government does not take urgent steps to address the issues underpinning this crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to incentivise teaching as a career, which means removing the financial barriers students face while studying. There is also more that could be done to encourage those from diverse backgrounds to enter the profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity outreach hubs in north Dublin have enabled dozens of students from working-class backgrounds to gain access to DCU\u2019s primary school teaching programme – initiatives like this one must be expanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecruitment issues will also persist if the underlying causes of the housing crisis are not addressed by the government, with many teachers unable to afford to live in urban areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s past time the Minister steps up and takes action to address the teacher shortage crisis head-on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to meeting the various unions at their respective education conferences in the coming weeks – I\u2019ve no doubt that the issues of stress and burnout will arise and I look forward to exploring effective solutions for schools around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 10th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost half of teachers are at risk of leaving the profession due to the stresses imparted by staffing shortages, a crisis that\u2019s been put on the back burner by government, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins. Deputy Cummins, the party\u2019s spokesperson on Education, said: \u201cThe nonchalance of successive education ministers\u2019 actions has failed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,581,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-jen-cummins","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n