'Teachers can't afford to live in areas where they teach,' INTO congress hears
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Calls to tackle housing and teacher shortages, and pledges to address shortfalls in key staff dominated the agenda on day two of the annual Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) congress in Killarney.
As Education Minister Norma Foley took to the stage to address the hundreds of gathered teachers, several delegates held signs above their heads, reading ‘Teachers can’t afford the rent’, ‘Build Social and Affordable Housing’, and ‘Níl aon tintean ag 11,000’.
A lone protester dressed in a skeleton suit also held a placard above their head to the far right-hand side of the stage in the INEC as Ms Foley took to the podium. He remained there for several minutes before he was asked to leave.
With the crisis exacerbating ongoing teacher shortages, INTO leadership called on the minister to tackle housing, incentivise newly qualified teachers to work in rent-pressure zones, and to create the right conditions for teachers who would like to move to high-population areas.
“Minister, do you think it is fair that teachers cannot afford to live in areas where they teach,” asked INTO general secretary John Boyle.
Each month, the union hears more and more stories of teachers struggling to afford spiraling rents in a housing sector not fit for purpose, he said.
"The teacher shortage crisis is no mystery. It's clearly about living standards, pay, and conditions. Just ask those leaving Ireland or tuning in from overseas, who won't return anytime soon."
Primary schools are short at least 1,200 daily posts for teachers through cover for short-term substitution and fixed-term absences for up to a year. While the minister has recently announced 610 more college places to come on stream in the coming years for primary school teachers, the INTO believes this number needs to be doubled.
“Your department’s flawed statistical modeling that failed to capture major policy changes has clouded the core issue here,” Mr Boyle told Ms Foley.
“Accurate data on career breaks, job-sharing, secondments, and retirements appear not to have been taken into account either. And then you wonder why we have a teacher supply crisis.”
Speaking to delegates on Tuesday, Ms Foley pledged to restore thousands of key leadership posts cut during austerity. In 2009, during the last recession, 4,000 posts of responsibility were cut from primary schools.
Last year, the INTO decided to restore 1,450 posts to schools as part of the sectoral bargaining process.
While the Government has also restored approximately a third of the roles, more than 1,400 posts remain outstanding in almost 1,300 primary and special schools. These posts include assistant principals and are available at two levels of seniority, usually in larger schools.
These posts are worth between €9,200 and €4,100 depending on which level teachers are assigned to these roles.
Ms Foley told the gathered delegates that she is aware of the importance of distributed leadership in schools. Subject to budgetary considerations, she is "keen" to advance posts of responsibility in areas of “critical policy priority”.
She also intends to work on restoring a similar number at post-primary level.
In her address, Ms Foley paid tribute to the schools that opened their doors to the 15,000 young people who have enrolled here after fleeing the war in Ukraine. She recalled meeting a “very courageous” young student in a Dublin classroom who had survived the catastrophic bombing of his home.
The INTO also heard from Kateryna Maliuta-Osaulova and Olha Chabaniuk of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine, who received a standing ovation. They were joined on stage by Ukrainian students currently attending St Oliver’s NS in Killarney.