Substitute Teacher Shortage
- Published: 10 November 2017
The continuing challenge of accessing substitute teachers is very much occupying the minds of you, our members and the leadership of IPPN. In many ways we are presented with a perfect storm. The peaking of pupil demographics, the impact of the transition of the BEd from 3 to 4 years, the appointment of over 2,000 extra teachers and the exodus of newly qualified teachers abroad have all contributed to this situation.
IPPN has highlighted the critical shortage of substitute cover with our Partners in Education. Recommendations that have been put forward include:
- Increasing the number of days that teachers on Career Break can provide substitute cover
- Greater flexibility for teachers who are job-sharing to provide substitute cover
- Encouraging retirees to re-register with the Teaching Council
In referring to DES Circular 0031/2011 ‘Teacher Recruitment, Registration and Qualifications’, Sections 4 and 6 are particularly relevant. Failing the sourcing of fully qualified registered teachers, school leaders are attempting to source conditional registered teachers, retired teachers, or unregistered persons in exceptional circumstances to cover short-term absences. The recruitment of unregistered persons is permissible to prevent school closure, safeguarding the welfare of pupils, or is deemed necessary to maintain provision in the school. Section 6.2 (2) states ‘The person proposed for appointment is competent and capable of acting in a teaching capacity in the school.’
It is critical that all substitutes are vetted and that Declarations and Letters of Undertaking are in place prior to commencement of employment in accordance with DES Circular 0031/2016.
Managing Your Workload
- Published: 10 November 2017
Circular 0063/2017 lifts the moratorium on the filling of some management posts in schools. However, the vast majority of schools will see no immediate improvement. The demands on school leaders continues to increase and at times proves overwhelming. It is critically important that school leaders focus on leading and managing the quality of learning in their school. However, an overloaded principal runs the risk of losing that focus. The challenge is how to prioritise those important activities that make schools so busy.
If a principal is to really lead learning in their school and if they are to prevent personal burn-out, it is clear that there is a need to re-focus on priorities, either by means of delegation or by de-prioritisation. The IPPN publication, ‘Priorities for Principal Teachers – In Clear Focus’ examines how best to address the issue of work overload. It encourages us to consider which activities are not fully in line with the school plan and which could, for a time at least, be pushed down the priority list or removed from it altogether. The document aims to provide support to the very many principals who are struggling to manage their workload and are unsure what aspects of the role they can and should delegate or deprioritise. Principals will learn from this document that it is possible to say ‘no’ sometimes or postpone less urgent issues.
We will provide some practical tips, over the next few weeks, outlining how this publication may help you to manage your workload.
Principalmeet 2018
- Published: 27 October 2017
It could be a programme, tool or website that has proved useful, a way of doing things that saves time or energy, an approach or methodology that improves teaching and learning in the school, a new way of running staff meetings, or research you have done on an aspect of leadership or management that others may be interested in. As long as it is relevant to school leadership, it will be considered! Principalmeet 2018 will take place at the IPPN principals’ conference on 25th and 26th January in Citywest. If you are planning to attend the conference, and would like to give a short, informal presentation at the event, we’d love to hear from you! If you have any queries, please email the facilitator Kathleen Byrne, principal of St Patrick’s NS, Glencullen, to teachmeetireland@gmail.com
Substitute Teacher Shortage
- Published: 27 October 2017
IPPN has recently held a series of meetings with the Education Partners – including the DES, INTO and Teaching Council. The situation is more complex given that the demographics for primary schools suggest that pupil numbers will peak over the next two years. IPPN has put forward the following solutions:
- Increasing the days that teachers on career breaks/retirees can substitute for
- Permitting some categories of job sharers to work extra days.
IPPN recognises that this is a critical issue for school leaders and will continue to highlight it at all relevant meetings.
Do you have a need for a substitute teacher in your school?
If yes, you can avail of the following services:
For short term substitute vacancies (within the next 7 days) you can advertise through our TextaSub Service
For planned absences of 24 weeks or less, you can advertise for a substitute teacher or SNA on EducationPosts.ie with a minimum requirement of just 5 days advertising. You can advertise a primary level vacancy on EducationPosts.ie by clicking here
Networking E-sceal
- Published: 06 October 2017
We would suggest that if you have been affected by this issue that you contact eir directly or alternatively provide another email address to IPPN for the receipt of networking@ippn.ie emails.
To update the mailing list with your new email address, log in to www.ippn.ie. Go to ‘Supports’ on the menu tool bar. Select ‘Manage My Mailing Lists’ from the drop down menu. On this page input your new email address in the field provided and select the mailing lists to which you want to be subscribed to. To complete the process, click the ‘Submit Changes’ button at the bottom of the page.
