Is teaching still an attractive profession?

Union leaders say the traditionally high status of teachers in Ireland is under threat due to a combination of issues such as pay, workload, limited promotional posts and the growing complexity of the job. So, is teaching still an attractive profession? We asked delegates at teachers’ unions annual gatherings:

‘No one goes into teaching expecting huge wages’

Eoin Fenton, primary teacher

“There are still many attractive things about the job. The main reason people get into it is to work with children: it is rewarding and satisfying. There are elements that are becoming more difficult. I’m teaching almost 15 years and I see a change in the expectations on teachers in terms of wider societal issues like children’s mental health, access to psychological services. A lot of those services are under-resourced, which makes it more difficult on teachers, children and their families.

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‘I’d like to return to university, but worry about fitting in’

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“I don’t think anyone goes into teaching expecting huge wages. I was lucky that I escaped the lower pay scales which were introduced for new entrants in 2011. Others had their pay cut by a lot more than I did. Overall, I really enjoy my job, despite a lot of sideline issues like workload and paperwork which people regularly complain about.”

‘The magic of being in a classroom in still there’

Orla Ryng, primary teacher

“I’m teaching 20 years and I still get the same buzz on the first of September that I did when I first started. It is a privilege to work with children and to really develop relationships with them. That magic of being in a classroom is still there.

“Unfortunately, there is a lot of noise outside the classroom: not having substitutes available, difficulties affording rent or getting permanent positions. There are other demands of paperwork, over-crowded classes, lots of challenging needs in the classroom. The classroom has changed, and it can be challenging, but the relationship between child and teacher remains very special.”

[ Primary teachers working as ‘therapists, psychologists, grief counsellors and homeless support staff’ ]

‘Teachers who go abroad can get more pay’

Carmel Browne, primary teacher

“I teach in Longford in a very inclusive, diverse school. It is still a very attractive profession, but we are losing a generation of highly qualified teachers because they are voting with their feet and moving abroad. They get more pay. They can walk into promotional posts. Accommodation is often provided.

“We need to do more to hold on to our teachers. The workload in Irish schools is a big factor and the lack of promotional posts for so many new initiatives. We need those posts to be restored. Overall, it is still an attractive profession and numbers applying for teaching are consistent.”

‘Some full-time teachers have to work part-time in bars just to pay their rent’

Jamie Flanagan, secondary teacher

“I qualified in 2018 from NUIG, but a lot of my friends who qualified with me have had to go elsewhere. A lot of them went to Dubai. They didn’t choose to go; they had no option. You have to be very lucky to get a contract. They would rather be in their own country.

“There are teaching jobs, but so many are in Dublin, and with the cost of living so high, it’s too hard for teachers. Some full-time teachers have to work part-time in bars on the weekend, just to pay their rent. A lot can’t find a place to live and have to stay with friends or relations – it’s not ideal for a young person to be living with retired relatives in their 60s.”

[ Secondary school teachers say there is no rationale for moving English and Irish exams ]

‘The profession is so disillusioned’

Maeve Hackett, secondary teacher

“I was a permanent teacher for eight years, with a contract of indefinite duration (CID). I had sale agreed on a house, but the sale fell through and then Covid-19 hit. I am a single buyer with one income, so I had the option: do I stick it out on the east coast or do I move home to Galway? I could live with my parents and save money on rent, but that means that I start at the bottom of the scale again – and it adds two years towards my efforts to get a mortgage.

“My parents are great, but it’s not my house to do as I would like – I can’t even throw a dinner party. There is no mobility in teaching. I think the Minister is quite capable of honouring CIDs. I had to go off the scale and back on to hours, unable to buy anything as no bank will touch me without permanency. I am hopeful I will get a permanent contract and be able to put together a finance package, but with the mortgage rates going up and up, it’s very hard. I do find it mortifying, to be honest. The profession is so disillusioned.”

‘I’m completely priced out of the market’

Seán Maher, secondary teacher

“I teach English and geography in Drogheda. It’s just as hard to find a place to live. I’m completely priced out of the market and there are very little available houses. Of the houses built, a lot are bought before they are built, so even if I could afford the houses, it’s near impossible.

“I’ve moved back home again, at the age of 30, because I’m saving for a house. I have been teaching since 2016 and am at the point in the scale where there may be hope. But realistically I will be at home at least another two years. I’m not getting any younger and the prices are going up, not down. We feel stuck and with no sense of change on the horizon.”

‘If my students say they want to be teachers, I ask them to interrogate it a bit more’

Caitríona Ni Cátháin, secondary teacher

“As a Spanish teacher based in Limerick city, I was paying €1,000 a month to live in an annex, a sort of granny flat attached to another property and when I got an eviction notice a lot of people were really surprised because the public perception that’s still out there is that teaching is a respectable job… a safe job.

“And it’s that sense of stability, that’s the reason why a young person would aspire to get into teaching but if my students say that they want to be teachers, and a lot of them do, I ask them to just interrogate it a bit more given how difficult it is right now for us to just live a life that allows us access to the normal things that we want, that everybody wants, for example, like a place to settle down, and the ability to start a family and have access to things like childcare.”

‘Teaching is not considered an attractive career in the way that it was’

Cillian O’Neill, secondary teacher

“I love teaching, I find it very fulfilling but it’s not considered an attractive career in the way that it was, the way in the past. I think that’s to do with the fact that teachers were hit with a huge amount of pain during the cuts but there was also a hit in terms of the money going into other aspects of education and you see that in the quality of the classrooms, the fact that some of the schools are crumbling.

“And then in terms of those who do go into it in Dublin, a lot of them are barely qualified when they are looking to move away, either outside of Dublin here or abroad. You see wonderful young teachers leaving the profession and when students see that when some of their teachers are struggling with an issue like housing, it’s not exactly going to attract them to the role.”

‘Lack of sustainable contracts is eroding the profession’

Aideen Clarke, secondary teacher

“I think it is still probably one of the most valuable professions but there are a lot issues. One thing that’s eroding it is the lack of sustainable contracts. I’ve seen contracts advertised for four hours per week. That’s not anything that anyone can live on. I’m from Limerick but I had to move to Dublin in order to get a contract that I could live on.

“But I can’t afford to live in Dublin so I live in Portlaoise where I was lucky to get a house in August that had been rented before so the landlord was tied in what he could charge. I pay €1,125, just short of 50 per cent of my take-home pay and then I commute for over an hour each way every day, so there’s the diesel to be paid for. I love what I do but it becomes very difficult to remain positive when you can’t achieve the things you want in your life as well as your career.”