Teacher recruitment system: what a mess

gaiscioch

Just when I thought the joke recruitment system couldn't get worse, I open educationposts.ie to see what jobs are available in my subjects. The technical whizzkids there decided they'd bastardise the "best of a bad lot" system they had and make it 32 times more difficult for a teacher to find a job!

Now, instead of opening the Search for Vacancies page and pressing 'ctrl' and 'f' and typing in your subject into the pop-up box and seeing every available job in Ireland on a single page, the genius in educationposts has decided to get us to search each of the 32 counties ('Please select a county!') to see if a job is available. Like. What the fúck. Why? What thought process could possibly be behind this change? Is there some "I don't teach outside my county" mentality possessed by teachers who'd rather be unemployed than look for a job in another county? Or do the educationposts.ie people think teachers have nothing better to do than enable this sort of idiocy?

It's bad enough that the VECs/ETBs still have not been forced by the Department of Education which funds them to have a single recruitment website, or indeed to put all their vacancies on a single website such as educationposts.ie. Or that hours upon hours must be wasted by teachers filling in a single job-specific application for jobs that are often gone before they are advertised (a certain school principal near Greystones in Wicklow deserves a special kick up the arse for bringing this to new levels in recent months). As if a single application form would make the process too dignified for those teachers.... I'm not even bothered at the absence of any acknowledgement to the work you put into these long-winded idiosyncratic applications - I just reject the necessity at mere application stage for such detail given the hundreds of applications for most posts, and that the person in the post will usually get it anyway. Dispiriting, undignified and demeaning. (I decided in the case of Mr Wicklow above that I wouldn't like to work for a principal who would ask us to fill in a 10-page application form for a single job)

Could this state, with the acquiescence of the teacher unions (one of which I pay €335 per annum in my after tax income as a member), conceive of a more egregious kick in the teeth to qualified teachers who are looking for jobs? As a permanent teacher in full-time employment (I'd like to move out of Dublin due to property prices hence my looking) I've already contacted both my union and the ETB asking them respectively to consider lobbying for a centralised recruitment system à la An Garda Síochána for all state-paid teachers, and a single recruitment website for all ETB vacancies. Aside from the usual polite answers nothing has happened.

I have never heard any union representative make an issue of the recruitment system. Of course, the background to the recruitment mess is the fact that there are thousands of unemployed/underemployed teachers simply because the state refuses to rein in the universities, who make millions of euro in tuition fees, and regulate entry into teacher-training colleges. From this oversupply interacting with a decentralised recruitment system, part-time hours, teachers teaching subjects they are unqualified to teach, discrimination, nepotism and so many other problems affecting the conditions of Irish teachers can largely be traced.

Yet, this utterly inefficient system continues unabated, and indeed goes out of its way to make job applications even more difficult than they need be.

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Should the existing system be allowed to continue, or what changes if any do you think should be made to it?

joebloggs32

No

Yes I agree with you on these points. There needs to be some link between supply and demand in terns of teacher training. The current system is producing far too many people for the positions available, and now they have to endure the added expense of an extra year.

clunked

joebloggs32 wrote: »

Yes I agree with you on these points. There needs to be some link between supply and demand in terns of teacher training. The current system is producing far too many people for the positions available, and now they have to endure the added expense of an extra year.

But that might force some 'educationalists' back into the classroom:eek:. Also I presume that Hibernia and the other colleges are making too much money from graduates wishing to enter the profession.

Frankly frank

No

Fantastic post.

Rainbowshimmer

No

I totally agree with you! I'm currently looking for work and I'm feeling a bit demoralised at the moment. Those silly 10 page application forms are certainly not helping. I too filled out that application form for the school in Wicklow, and it was a nightmare to fill in. Also no word back from that particular school.

I have an interview tomorrow, but it's a job that was also advertised last year, so I'm presuming there is somebody already in the job, and will be reinterviewing. So tired of it all and it's only mid-June!

highly1111

No

Rainbowshimmer wrote: »

I totally agree with you! I'm currently looking for work and I'm feeling a bit demoralised at the moment. Those silly 10 page application forms are certainly not helping. I too filled out that application form for the school in Wicklow, and it was a nightmare to fill in. Also no word back from that particular school.

I have an interview tomorrow, but it's a job that was also advertised last year, so I'm presuming there is somebody already in the job, and will be reinterviewing. So tired of it all and it's only mid-June!

Sent you a PM

chippers

gaiscioch wrote: »

Now, instead of opening the Search for Vacancies page and pressing 'ctrl' and 'f' and typing in your subject into the pop-up box and seeing every available job in Ireland on a single page, the genius in educationposts has decided to get us to search each of the 32 counties ('Please select a county!') to see if a job is available. Like. What the fúck. Why? What thought process could possibly be behind this change? Is there some "I don't teach outside my county" mentality possessed by teachers who'd rather be unemployed than look for a job in another county? Or do the educationposts.ie people think teachers have nothing better to do than enable this sort of idiocy?

Ha ha brilliant, i had been giving out about that myself! glad to hear i'm not the only one that didn't like that change!

Applying for jobs is all a bit of a mystery. I'm applying for everything but I'm sort of thinking that the 22 hour jobs that look too good to be true probably don't exist but maybe the 10 / 12 / 14 hour contract types might do. I've three years experience but I haven't heard back from any either way.

I've a second professional qualification that I'm now more actively following up on so I reckon I might knock the teaching on the head. It's a pity as I reckon I could have had a good career as a teacher but there comes a time when stability and security become quite important.

oneright

Perfect post! I have filled in several on those 10 page forms and yes for that Wicklow job too.
Not a word in response, out of 40 jobs applied for I have a 2 get back to me. Each year this kills me a little more.

ethical

Teacher recruitment is one HUGE joke in Ireland......and just wait until you have to fill in an application form for a CEIST school,10 pages and then send them 5 copies of it and the best bit !!! it must be in 'arial 12' font,if not you will not get called for interview.I have just had this conversation with a number of teachers over the past week and 3 out of the 4 that applied for a particular job did not get an interview and when they enquired why not they were told that the font used was incorrect!!!.One teacher swears that her application was done in the required 'arial 12' font but that she may have used 'arial 11' to fit a few bits of information into a few small boxes.It goes to show that the 'recruiters' do not really give a damn but must cover themselves somehow and one would be better off working in one of the big supermarkets than joining a shower of 'paper pushers and box tickers' as this is what teaching has come to in good old Ireland ,it seems!

maynooth_rules

I too applied for that school in Wicklow knowing well that it was a waste of time while I was answering utterly ridiculous questions. In regards to that school I applied for a position there last year and received a lovely rejection letter, complimenting my CV and experience and telling me not to get disheartened that I am a very well qualified teacher. Letter rang a bell and I looked through my literature and found a rejection letter from a few years before from old school that principal used to work in. Word for word the exact same.

gaiscioch, i have rarely read a post on here where I have been nodding in agreement so much