19th September 2024
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) welcomes the release of the long-awaited circular 0069/2024, detailing the operation of the PME Fee Refund Scheme announced by Minister Foley on Budget Day last October. The INTO remains hopeful that this teacher supply initiative will have a positive impact and, together with the three pay increases set for teachers during the current academic year, will encourage those who completed a Professional master’s in education in Ireland in 2024 to take up employment in Irish schools.
The INTO has also submitted several claims to the Department of Education for costing, aimed at making teaching in Irish primary and special schools more attractive.
To qualify for the €2,000 PME fee refund, applicants must work as primary teachers, either full-time or part-time, for at least 60% of the current school year (109 school days). A process will open for receipt of applications in January 2025.
The INTO met with the Department of Education this week to discuss the ongoing teacher supply crisis, urging the implementation of a range of additional measures to address the acute shortages in the short, medium, and long term. The INTO called on the Department to:
- Establish a national commission to find real solutions to the teacher supply crisis, focusing on financial incentives, job stability, and career encouragement to enhance the appeal of teaching careers.
- Subsidise teacher education programme fees, provide payments to students in their final year of pre-service and build more on-campus student accommodation with costs capped at realistic levels.
- Commence teacher education programmes in additional Higher Education Institutes regionally or at outreach centres.
- Provide extra places on Irish-medium teacher education programmes.
- Substantially increase the number of places on special education diploma courses.
- Launch a targeted campaign to encourage other mid-career professionals to transition to teaching.
- Commit to sustainable funding and support for Path programmes and other alternative routes to primary teaching.
- Award scholarships to students from minority and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to promote diversity within the profession.
- Increase the budget for the Student Assistance Fund for PME students and extend it to Bachelor of Education students.
- Ring-fence rental accommodation and new builds for frontline workers who work in urban areas throughout the week.
- Introduce a scheme like that recently available to student nurses, offering subsidies towards accommodation costs for NQTs working in urban areas.
- Develop a job-transfer scheme to encourage permanent teachers to work in high-population areas.
- Permit parental leave to be taken in blocks of less than one week.
- Raise the daily substitution rate for retired teachers.
- Explore a wind-down scheme allowing senior teachers to work fewer than five days a week without losing pension entitlements.
- Launch an international PR campaign targeting eligible teachers under routes 1 and 4 to return to work in Ireland.
- Review the incremental credit scheme to incentivise the return of overseas teachers.
Next week, the INTO, CPSMA, and IPPN will conduct a joint survey on teacher supply, with a survey link issued via email from INTO to principals of primary and special schools. The survey will launch on Monday, 30 September, and close on Monday, 7 October. The findings will be compared to the 2023 survey, alongside a detailed analysis of 2024 responses. All schools are encouraged to participate.
INTO General Secretary John Boyle stated
Financial incentives, job stability, and career encouragement are vital to enhancing the appeal of teaching careers. The INTO is determined to intensify its campaigning to ensure that every child in Ireland has a fully qualified teacher every day.