High number of unqualified primary school teachers halved [Independent.ie]
- Published: 19 July 2010
THE number of unqualified teachers in primary schools has halved in two years in the drive to regulate standards in the classroom.
The Department of Education has been enforcing a harder line to ensure that all pupils are taught by a properly qualified person.
Parents' and teachers' union leaders pressed for an end to a practice of using unqualified personnel that had become embedded in the system.
The use of unqualified staff was decried as damaging children's education and teacher quality has been identified in research as a major factor in educational outcomes.
A decade ago, as many as 1,600 primary school classes were taught by unqualified staff on a regular basis.
Unqualified staff are more of an issue in primary schools than at second level, largely because of a long-term shortage of qualified primary teachers.
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