Schools left short by teacher exodus

Post primary schools are finding it increasingly difficult to source teachers for certain subjects – including Irish – heaping another administrative headache on overworked principals.

As lifestyle and financial incentives lure more local teachers to the Middle East, principals and deputy principals are finding schools “extremely difficult to manage” from a staffing perspective.

“It’s really challenging at the moment to get staff in certain subject areas for maternity leave, parental leave and ongoing illness and sickness. A lot of teachers have decided to go back to the Middle East and Dubai, and the number of graduates in certain subjects is quite low,” explained Alan Mongey, Principal of Coláiste Bhaile Chláir.

There is a shortage of language teachers for Italian, Spanish and German as well as home economics but also Irish.

“Normally you’d think it would be easier to get Irish teachers in the West of Ireland. It didn’t used to be challenging but certainly in the last year it has become more challenging.

“A lot of younger teachers are choosing to leave. You also have rising student populations over the last five years,” said the former president of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD).

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