Irish Teacher: Staff shortages are hurting the most vulnerable students

We obsess as a country about schools staying open during weather alerts, even in global pandemics, but far less attention is given to what goes on inside them. 

My school today had one hundred student absences due to winter illnesses. Teachers are similarly impacted. But due to national teacher shortages, they’re not easily replaced.

Thankfully people like Simon Lewis are happy to speak out about the reality faced by children and school staff every day. As principal of Carlow’s Educate Together Primary School, and host of a popular education podcast, Lewis has been tracking the situation for years.

“I haven’t had a single day this year without a shortage. For an hour before I arrive in school at 7:45am my secretary Siobhán is under pressure, trying to plug the gaps to ensure that children are at least supervised.”

The supports offered to his busy multidenominational primary school sound remarkably threadbare.

“We have a panel system but it’s inadequate. We’re lucky as we’ve four people to share between 18 schools. I’ve heard of far worse conditions elsewhere. 

I had seven teachers out yesterday. Every day, I’m battling to make the least worst decision.

A recent National Principals’ study showed 70% of principals struggle to find substitute cover. Lewis acknowledges these findings and stresses that the teacher shortage disproportionality impacts our most vulnerable.

“We know that 83% of schools are redeploying their Special Education Teachers (SETs) to cover mainstream absences. Classes can’t be sent home because the children with additional needs are part of the class. Removing the one-to-one supports is the only option on a practical level.”

He’s frustrated by the Government’s lack of action. The education podcaster accepts that the housing crisis is an extremely visible cause of teacher shortages but believes the problem runs much deeper and has been around far longer.

“There has been a teacher shortage since 2013. It was labelled a crisis in 2016 and an emergency in 2018. Now we are at breaking point, particularly at pressure points like Dublin."

The principal believes there is a fundamental lack of understanding among government ministers when it comes to the psychology of teacher shortages. Certainly, Norma Foley’s (since retracted) suggestion that teachers lose career break opportunities suggests her ignorance of changes in the employment landscape.

“People don’t stay in the same job forever anymore,” says Lewis. “People don’t have careers like they use to – they want to travel, re-train, diversify. So many of our teachers emigrate or move into different fields. We must not make the profession less attractive.”

Lewis believes that teacher training must also adapt to modern Irish society.

“Student teachers are taught about the history of Irish education but there are far more pressing concerns. We have a quarter of children with additional needs and a huge range of mental health and language needs. We require teachers trained in specialised roles. Relying on goodwill and guesswork is impossible to sustain.”

His solution involves an extensive shake-up of the entire system.

“It has gone so far it can’t simply get fixed overnight. After ten years of neglect, the infection has really started to fester. Straight away we need to incentivise people to live and teach in certain areas. We need to remove Teacher Council barriers. Religion and language barriers to teacher employment are emotive topics but must be discussed.”

Lewis references changes in Welsh primary schools where language specialists teach the native language.

“We must start making difficult decisions,” he continues. An immediate solution for Lewis is to make the final year of college a full-time placement in a school, in a formal mentoring programme, similar to the Droichead scheme.

“This is such an obvious change to make. These student teachers could get paid, whilst being supported by both college and their school. It isn’t a long-term solution to the shortages, however. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a fully-trained doctor than a trainee doctor.”

The title of Simon Lewis’s podcast is ‘If I were The Minister for Education’. 

If indeed he were the minister, schools might become functioning schools again, with adequately trained and valued teachers working alongside children.