ONLY 6 per cent of trainee second-level teachers believe they will secure a teaching post in the months after their graduation and just over half believe they will be in a permanent teaching post in five years.
The findings from a survey by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, highlight a lack of confidence among trainee teachers about their future, despite a strong commitment to teaching.
Most said they opted for teaching in order to teach a subject they love. Salary and pension were the main motivators for only a tiny minority.
The ASTI polled more than 600 students taking the post-graduate diploma in education in various third-level colleges.
Many have no plans to look for teaching work in Ireland because of the shortage of jobs and an unwillingness to spend years in part-time or temporary teaching posts. Most of these teachers plan to change careers and/or to emigrate.
“Instead of helping us to rebuild our society and economy, our highly educated and motivated young teachers are being forced to emigrate,” ASTI general secretary Pat King said.
“We are investing in their education only to export them at the end of it.”
Almost one-quarter of those polled expect to be in non-permanent teaching positions in five years.
There are already about 7,000 temporary or part-time teachers in the second-level system, about 27 per cent of the teaching force. This is far higher than the EU average of 16 per cent.
Mr King said the uncertainty facing these teachers was bad for their morale and undermined teaching quality. “Teachers need to inspire and motivate . . . you don’t need to be worrying constantly about whether you will have a job in September.”
At present, more than half (53 per cent) of Irish second-level teachers aged under 30 have a temporary teaching contract of one year or less.
New permanent teachers face a 14 per cent pay cut instead of the previously announced 10 per cent cut for new entrants to the public service. This is on top of the cuts already applied to existing public sector workers.
Aoife Ní Mháille, a trainee teacher at Trinity College Dublin said: “I took time out to do a master’s degree before completing my [post-graduate diploma in education]. Now I enter teaching on a lower salary than my undergraduate classmates. It’s not about the money, it’s about fairness and equity.”
The high number of temporary teachers and the pay cuts facing new teachers will top the agenda at next week’s ASTI conference in Cork.
More than 500 delegates will attend the conference.
