Schools told job priority must go to qualified teachers

FEW newly graduated teachers will be left without work as long as schools no longer use almost 4,000 unqualified staff, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe has claimed. Responding to criticisms about the number of graduates who may be unable to get teaching jobs because of cuts in school staffing and other education resources, he said there should be no difficulties.

Almost 2,000 people have already finished primary teacher training degrees this year or will qualify in the autumn, and hundreds more have qualified to work in second-level schools. But with hundreds fewer teaching posts available this year, it has been suggested by teachers' unions that most will be forced to join the dole queue.

The minister said there were 2,000 unqualified teachers in the post-primary sector last year and 1,700 unqualified teachers in the primary sector, mostly engaged for substitution and non-permanent work.

"I've spoken to the teachers' unions and to the [school] management bodies, indicating quite clearly the first priority is going to have to be those who have a qualification," he said.

"That obviously is going to have an impact on the number of young graduates who will find places," Mr O'Keeffe said.

However, he was unable to say if fewer places would be made available at the colleges of education for primary teachers because of the reduced demand likely in the next year or two, which was among the key education recommendations in the report of An Bord Snip Nua last month. He will hold a day-long meeting with senior Department of Education officials early next month to look at the implications of the report's recommendations, which included savings of €746 million and almost 7,000 job losses.

"We want to take Department of Finance demands into account in relation to the savings that are necessary and we're going to look at the outcomes of education and the impact that further cost savings would have on education outcomes.

"We're having a cursory look at this point in time, but there's no point in saying that it's not going to be a difficult year in education," he said.

The country's 4,000 schools are already bracing themselves for further cuts next year on top of those taking effect when they re-open in the coming weeks, including staffing losses which will lead to higher class sizes, reduced subject choices in second level, reduced language supports for newcomer children and funding cuts affecting programmes to help disadvantaged students.