‘Make teaching a sustainable career and address teacher shortages’ – new ASTI President
“The Government must tackle teacher shortages in Ireland by making teaching a sustainable career choice for young people,” the new ASTI President Richie Bell said today (Friday, July 31st).
“Seventy-seven percent of school leaders said they had experienced no teacher applying for at least one position in their school in 2025*. Our education system is one of our greatest strengths and it is vital that we protect it for our children and young people. Therefore, having enough teachers in our schools is crucial.
“Young highly qualified teacher graduates are literally voting with their feet as they leave these shores to teach in other jurisdictions.
“To cope with a lack of qualified teachers, school leaders resort to measures such as dropping classes and subjects from the timetable, moving specialist teachers from additional needs education to teaching mainstream subject classes, and hiring non-qualified teachers.
“To halt this, obstacles facing new teachers must be addressed including the high cost of teacher education, the lack of affordable housing, the lack of full-time permanent teaching positions for new entrants, the length of the teachers’ salary scale, teacher workload, inadequate CPD, and lack of promotional opportunities. Young teachers need to see teaching in Ireland as a viable long-term career choice.
“Teacher shortages should not be seen as a problem for school principals to sort out. Teacher shortages have profound consequences for school communities and for children’s and young people’s development and future lives. If the Government is serious about protecting our high performing education system, tackling teacher shortages must become its number one education priority.
“Ireland is at the bottom of the OECD international league table for government investment in education. It is time to make this right and preserve and strengthen our education system - one of our greatest national assets.”
Mr Bell takes up his position as ASTI President tomorrow, August 1st. He is a teacher of history and religion at Coláiste Muire Máthair, Galway.
He served as ASTI Vice President from 2025-2026. Previous ASTI roles have included branch officer of Galway ASTI Branch and ASTI School Steward at Coláiste Muire Máthair, Galway.
The ASTI represents more than 21,000 second-level teachers working in schools all over the country.
ENDS
*https://www.asti.ie/document-library/school-leaders-on-teacher-supply-and-recruitment-redc-survey/
