[ad_1]
High schools face a “chronic teacher shortage” in the coming months due to delayed retirements, high-risk staff needing time off, and people not applying for jobs in urban areas due to high rents.
The nations speaking today at the Covid-19 response committee have painted a grim picture as schools across the country reopen.
The committee will meet today to hear feedback from teachers and parents on how the return of schools is operating on the ground.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said schools in cities, particularly Dublin, will be hit the hardest.
Secretary General Michael Gillespie said there is a serious lack of teachers for special subjects like languages and science.
“In a month we will have delayed retirements that will affect the system, so there will be a massive shortage of teachers and we will only have a smaller number available to replace them,” he said.
“The number of teachers who are at high risk plus the retirements that are coming, we believe there will be a chronic shortage of teachers, most of these will be in urban areas, particularly in Dublin.”
Gillespie said the number of youth testing positive for coronavirus is “increasing rapidly” and that schools do not have the staff to support absences.
“If they’re the only physics teachers in the school and they get sick, they won’t get a replacement. That’s absolutely certain, ”he said.
The committee also heard how a “lot of teachers are expecting babies” and are very concerned about returning to the workplace.
John Boyle, secretary general of the Irish National Teachers Organization (INTO), said his GPs are advising some pregnant teachers not to go back to school.
This is despite advice from HSE that the evidence collected so far shows that “pregnant women are not at risk.”
“We don’t fully know how it affects pregnant women and their babies,” says the advice on the agency’s website.
A circular from the Department of Education also states: “Under current HSE guidelines, a pregnant employee is not considered to be at very high risk of contracting a serious illness from contracting Covid-19, unless she has a serious heart condition.”
Boyle said anecdotally that the union is hearing that there have been very few job applicants in urban areas and that “over time, this can only get worse.”
He said younger teachers are choosing to work in rural areas where there is a lower cost of living.
Meanwhile, concern was also expressed that staff would have to restrict movement in order not to receive pay for time off.
“We are concerned that a teacher would isolate himself, if that happened multiple times during the year, it would not take long to accumulate the days for the teacher to end up with half payment or potentially no payment due to Covid-19,” he said Boyle.
“We know that Covid pays people who test positive, but if teachers are out for several days and test negative, the days will add up,” he added.
Education Minister Norma Foley will appear before the committee today.
Online editors
[ad_2]