Teaching is 'one of the most rewarding jobs you could hope to do' - Leitrim teacher

Maths, Irish, and home economics had the most unfilled posts with Irish the worst hit by “vacant posts”. Maths had the most posts filled by so-called out-of-field teachers. 

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, Councillor, James Gilmartin said that the figures are "concerning" and suggested a number of reasons for the lack of teachers. "The profession needs to be made attractive to people both from a financial point of view and also from a career point of view; that there are pathways to proceed through."

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The 1,026 unfilled teaching positions comprised 330 vacant posts and a further 696 roles filled by a teacher unqualified to teach the subject. Cllr Gilmartin said: "That's concerning with subjects such as maths and other core subjects you'd need to have training in to deliver."

He said to make teaching a more attractive proposition, "the pay scales need to be looked at in the sense that people progress through the different steps as they go. This happens in private industry. If you are a qualified teacher and getting X amount of money and you might get one and a half times that in the private industry, it's very hard to turn that down, especially in urban areas as the cost of living is so high."

He added that there are "middle-management posts in schools that are called AP1 and AP2 posts (assistant principal) and they would require the teacher to be a year head or be involved in organising sporting events etc. We need more of these posts in schools so there is a career path for improvement. I did it myself- I taught for 25 years - and it is one of the most rewarding jobs you could hope to do. It has to work out financially as well."

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More than 4,600 teachers are believed to be working abroad, according to the Teaching Council and Cllr Gilmartin said it was important to try and incentivise these teachers to come back to Ireland. "The reality is that they are needed in Ireland and we have are going to draw them back. One way to attract people back would be if they have five or ten years of teaching experience, that's accredited in Australia or Dubai, that would be used to put you on the pay scale so you wouldn't be starting at the very bottom."