merrion street

The Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton T.D. today convened the first meeting of the Teacher Supply Steering Group, a specialist group of stakeholders, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú.

Minister Bruton has established the Group to ensure that there is an adequate supply of quality teachers to meet the needs of primary and post primary schools and to ensure we can deliver on the Government’s ambition to make Ireland’s Education and Training Service the best in Europe by 2026.

The numbers graduating from all teacher education programmes are steady and we are now recruiting more new teachers than at any other point in the history of the state. Over 5,000 additional teachers have been successfully recruited in the last two years.

However, concerns have been raised around teacher supply in recent times. The Group will consider the issues that impact on teacher supply and demand and oversee a programme of actions according to strict timelines and clear deliverables to meet important needs.

The Group will be considering the following areas:
· Policies and arrangements for schools and teachers that impact on teacher mobility/supply;
· Promotion of the teaching profession
· Higher Education: initial teacher education policy, provision, funding and support
· Data/ research
Convening the first meeting, Minister Bruton said

“We are very lucky in Ireland to have excellent teachers. Our teachers and school leaders are not only key to ensuring a positive outcome for the individual child but a high quality teaching profession is crucial to delivering on our goal to be the best in Europe.

“We have very ambitious plans for Education, in areas such as STEM, digital learning and foreign languages and a key step in those strategies is to ensure that we have a steady supply of teachers to deliver on these ambitions.

“Concerns have been raised in recent times around teacher supply. I am convening this group to respond to these concerns and consider the issues which impact on teacher supply and demand. The Teacher Supply Steering Group will oversee a programme of actions according to strict timelines and deliverables and I look forward to seeing their progress which will build on the previous measures we have undertaken in this area.

“Teaching is a fantastic profession for any young person considering their options. I would like to again take this opportunity to remind final year Leaving Certificate students who may still be considering a career in teaching that that they can use the CAO “change of mind” facility up to 1st July 2018.”