Most new teachers lack job security, survey shows

Two-thirds of teachers who qualified in recent years are working in precarious or part-time teaching positions, according to research commissioned by the biggest second-level teachers’ union.

The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) says lack of job security and lower pay scales for new teachers now represents a "critical threat" to the future of second-level education.

A survey of more than 700 second-level teachers who entered the profession since 2010 carried out by polling firm Red C found that 66 per cent were in temporary or fixed-term jobs.

Almost one-in-five (18 per cent ) were supplementing their teaching income by working in part-time jobs, such as taxi-driving or barwork.

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They survey also indicates that most of these teachers are highly qualified, with Master’s degrees and post-graduate diplomas, in addition to their teaching qualifications.

While a large majority said they entered teaching because of a desire to help young people or teach a subject they love, a similar proportion said the lack of job security and pay levels were causing huge job dissatisfaction.

ASTI president Ed Byrne said: “Our young teachers are highly educated and motivated but have inferior conditions and pay.

“Many of them do not know if they have a job in the next school year and all of them are on lesser pay scales than their colleagues who began teaching just a few years before them.

He added: “What does this say about the value we place on teaching and education in this country?”

The union says pay for newly recruited teachers was cut in 2011 and again in 2012.

As a result, it said a secondary teacher’s starting work this year is about 20 per cent below the 2010 starting salary.

The issue is due to be debated at the ASTI’s annual conference in Killarney next week.

Mr Byrne rejected suggestions that the union’s strategy of “repudiating” the Lansdowne Road pay deal – which resulted in pay freezes for members and longer access to permanent contacts – had contributed to the situation.

He said the Government’s decision to lengthen the period of time needed to secure a permanent post from two years to four for ASTI members only was a “act of malice”.

“It had no goal other than coercion. It lends nothing to the education of children in the classroom. It can only be seen as a vengeful act,” Mr Byrne said.