Temp teacher job draws nearly 1,200 applicants

A TEMPORARY teaching job at a Dublin school attracted nearly 1,200 applications from qualified graduates, it emerged last night. Fine Gael has seized on the revelation and suggested the number of applicants highlighted the growing crisis facing teacher training graduates because of continued education cutbacks.

The 850 postal applications and 300-plus email responses were sent to St Olaf's National School in Dundrum, which advertised a temporary job last month to cover a career break for one of its staff.

"Around four in five applicants were recent graduates or people who were only finishing their primary teacher training," said school principal Ger Murphy.

Fine Gael's Dún Laoghaire TD, Sean Barrett, said the volume of applications to St Olaf's NS gives an indication of the teaching crisis created by Fianna Fáil.

"It ploughs ahead with a teacher training programme while implementing swingeing cuts in teaching numbers," he said.

"[Education Minister Batt] O'Keeffe is slashing 1,000 primary teaching posts this September, which means there simply aren't enough jobs for the existing pool of trained teachers, let alone the new crop who have graduated this year."

The minister's spokesman said Mr Barrett seems to suggest the Department of Education should radically downscale teacher training or abandon it altogether.

"That would not be in the interest of our children," he said.

Irish National Teachers' Organisation general secretary, John Carr, accused the Government of talking out both sides of its mouth, by maintaining employment was a top priority while education policies condemn hundreds more to the dole.