‘Teachers won’t be able to cope without back-up’
teacher. And while teachers’ unions have been reluctant to give an official estimation as to how many would be needed, a source told the Irish Daily Mail that it will ‘most likely be in the hundreds’.
In his opening statement to the committee, Mr Clerkin writes ‘additional leadership and management time’ must be provided to principals to meet the needs of their schools. ‘Simply put, they cannot be expected to teach as well as lead their schools through the reopening phase,’ he says.
‘To enable schools to manage during the reopening phase, substitute cover is needed for every absence. Schools also need to have flexibility in how they allocate staff to comply with social distancing requirements, including arrangements for shared special education and teachers who work in multiple classrooms and/or in multiple school.’
Irish National Teachers Organisation general secretary John Boyle yesterday said that while he was not saying teachers would not go back to school unless substitute teachers were hired, they want certainty around how to manage teacher absences.
He called for issues around substitute teachers, sickness and class sizes to be examined further by the Department of Education so that when teachers and children do go back to school, ‘they stay back’.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Boyle said that some large classes may need to be split when schools reopen in eight weeks, which will require an additional teacher.
Mr Boyle added teachers are now mandated to stay at home if they are feeling sick, but without more planning this will leave classes with no cover.
He said he favoured the extension of a pilot scheme that has been run in six schools where three teachers were appointed to provide cover for 15 schools in each local area.
This pilot scheme used an app to contact substitute teachers who turned up the next day, which allows ‘consistency and continuity’ with no extra costs. It is understood that newly qualified teachers and recent retirees are the most favourable options to plug the gap. In secondary schools, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland has suggested trainee teachers should be fasttracked into paid teaching. The TUI said students in the second year of the professional master of education programme should be able to work as an exceptional measure. The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland also supports this.
Both the TUI and ASTI have called for additional staff support and guidance for principals to advance the preparation and planning for a safe return to school. The ASTI also recommends that those teaching abroad should be given the necessary credit
‘Consistency and continuity
to teach in Irish schools. ‘This would incentivise teachers to come home and encourage others, who are home at the moment, to stay,’ it said.
Niamh Murray, principal of Kilmacanogue National School in Co. Wicklow, told the Mail that every school should have access to a list of available substitutes. ‘Retired teachers, as well as those on career breaks, should be added to these lists as well and newly qualified teachers,’ she said.
Seán Ó hArgáin, principal of Gaelscoil Osrai in Co. Kilkenny, envisioned his school would need one substitute for one day per week. And Peter McCabe, principal of St Columbanus National School, Dublin, told the Mail that any school with fewer than 15 teachers should have one additional substitute. For schools with 16 teachers or more, two substitutes should be available, he said.