A hidden crisis in rural Ireland is affecting the education of thousands of children, as secondary schools struggle to fill teaching posts, according to the newly elected president of one of the country’s biggest teaching unions.

With the start of a new academic year underway, countless rural secondary schools face the struggle to provide a full selection of subjects due to the ongoing shortage of teachers, which is affecting the educational opportunities of a huge cohort of students.

Richie Bell, ASTI president says the issue is not being addressed adequately by Government and believes an entire generation of Irish children in rural areas are being affected.

“We commissioned a Red C survey last year that had some startling findings regarding teacher supply and recruitment. While it didn’t distinguish between urban and rural schools, we are being told by our colleagues in rural schools that this is very much an issue in schools with smaller catchment areas as opposed to those located in towns and cities,” he says.

“The survey was among our principals and deputy principals and the results were striking. Of the teaching posts advertised over the previous 12 months, no applications were made in 77% of cases and more worryingly, 67% of vacancies remained unfilled.

“That has a knock-on effect not only on the principals who have to find cover, but also for the students who in many cases end up not having the subject choice they would like, due to a lack of teachers in certain subjects.”

Respondents to the survey reported several reasons for the difficulty in recruiting teachers, chief amongst them the fact teaching was not an attractive career option to young graduates (71%) closely followed by the belief that young teachers were emigrating to better paid teaching posts in other countries (69%).

Better appreciated elsewhere

Richie believes that when it comes to young teaching graduates taking their skills overseas, it’s not a money issue.

“We educate our teachers to such a high degree that they can take their qualification and teach all over the world,” he explains.

“They are better appreciated beyond this jurisdiction and they find they can’t afford to return home due to the ongoing housing and cost-of-living crises.”

“Rural schools are particularly affected by teacher shortages, as it is impacting the range of subjects being offered to students.

“Niche subjects are definitely being dropped in rural areas where students don’t have the option of going to a different school in order to study whatever subject they choose. Urban schools can link up to offer these subjects if the numbers are there, but rural schools don’t have that luxury.”

Schools in several parts of the country have reported issues filling posts caused by maternity leave and career breaks. There are also issues getting teachers for senior cycle subjects including chemistry, construction studies and home economics.

The survey was among our principals and deputy principals and the results were striking. Of the teaching posts advertised over the previous 12 months, no applications were made in 77% of cases and more worryingly, 67% of vacancies remained unfilled

However, a teacher based in the Midlands says there are “lots of moving parts” to the issue of staff retention and recruitment across the country.

Speaking to Irish Country Living, the teacher who did not wish to be named, said younger teachers were not being kept on after their first year, which was leading to resentment at the fact they could not secure CID, a contract of indefinite duration.

“The younger teachers I’ve seen coming through my school are not being kept on beyond a year and they’re leaving for Dubai,” he says.

“The staffing shortage is definitely an issue in certain subjects, for instance I know of a lot of schools where ag science is being taught by teachers who aren’t qualified in the subject and you have biology teachers stepping in, so it’s an issue for sure.

“Rural schools aren’t as appealing to young graduates, who want to be living in the bigger towns, and on the flip side of that young teachers struggle to afford high rents in urban areas so there are a lot of moving parts to this issue and I don’t think there’s one solution that can fix it.”

Yet it’s not just an issue of attracting younger teachers into rural schools. Older more experienced teachers are also leaving the profession due to the change in workload in recent years, a fact Richie believes is being overlooked in the overall question of how to improve teacher recruitment and retention.

Playing the long game

“A lot of colleagues I have worked with throughout my career have left in recent years. There are a mixture of reasons for this but underlying it all is a lack of appreciation and investment in Irish education,” he says.

“There are no opportunities for promotion and yet teachers are expected to take on more and more responsibilities.

“The asks in education have changed massively since I entered teaching in the 1990s, where wellbeing is now a huge part of the curriculum, yet we’re working with shoestring budgets.

Teachers are not being given any training or resources or support to deal with these issues yet the Government believes that once they’ve delegated them to schools, then their job is done

“There’s a massive initiative overload that’s falling on teachers as Government tries to address a number of societal issues that end up being landed back on schools to solve.

“I had to attend an Oireachtas hearing earlier this year to hear how the Government intended to tackle drugs in society while my ASTI colleague was at another Oireachtas hearing on the same day discussing the role schools have to play in addressing toxic masculinity and the manosphere.

“Teachers are not being given any training or resources or support to deal with these issues yet the Government believes that once they’ve delegated them to schools, then their job is done.”

The country’s second main teaching union, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland has also conducted research into the issue. Last March, it published a survey of 101 second-level schools carried out by the Principals and Deputy Principals’ Association (PDA) which found almost one in five schools (19%) have been forced to drop subjects altogether due to teacher recruitment and retention problems.

The survey found a majority of schools reported teacher recruitment difficulties (89%) while over half (55%) had experienced teacher retention issues. There was also a significant number of schools who had recruited staff who subsequently declined the offer in favour of another position (64%),

Richie believes the problem lies squarely with the Department of Education who he accuses of playing a long game in terms of coming up with a solution.

“The Government seems to be hoping that the projected drop in school numbers in the coming years will solve the problem but that is not fair on existing students who have a right to the highest standards in education.”