Teacher shortage - how are schools coping?

r93kaey5p2izun

newbienqt wrote: »

Dublin would be not too far for me if west dublin or north dublin.. I wonder what the situation will be like this year??

I'd say they'll be struggling even more than last year. Did you apply to DDLETB?

palmtrees

My friend is in the same situation. Biology & chemistry teacher. Trained in the UK and just moved home from two years in Australia so maybe that's going against him. Applied for every job he saw over the last 3 months and only got one interview. It's hard to know what to say - everybody is telling him there's a teacher shortage but no luck for him yet.

r93kaey5p2izun

Science subjects alone will be hard to get full hours in but I'd have thought some maternity or parental leave Chemistry jobs would have come up during the year. Most Science jobs are advertised with Maths but there are some all Science up this past month for Dublin anyway. I don't think there's a shortage of Biology teachers though.

newbienqt

Emmett Stocky Puma wrote: »

I'd say they'll be struggling even more than last year. Did you apply to DDLETB?

I've mostly been looking on educationposts but I can see some of the jobs posted on etbjobs DD LMETB are different so would be worth keeping an eye on. Originally didn't consider Dublin as assumed it would be more competitive plus extra travelling expenses.

r93kaey5p2izun

Just to note that DDLETB are separate from LMETB. DDLETB recruit through etbvancancies.ie along with KWETB and LWETB. They only post a few positions on edposts not all their ads. They advertised in May and have been interviewing this month and I know are still interviewing into the first week in July. Their current ad closes tonight at midnight. Get applying!

Dublin will have more jobs so less competitive if anything. Especially given cost of living driving teachers away. I don't think an NQT can really afford to avoid Dublin though to get experience unless they get lucky elsewhere - especially if commuting is possible. In fact most of my colleagues in Dublin live in Westmeath/Longford/Meath.

rainbowtrout

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I broke my leg this year and my physics class had no teacher for 7 weeks. None to be found.

North West

SligoBrewer

You need to be applying all over the country in your early years and honestly you need to look at improving your CV. Yeah there's a teacher shortage, but don't expect a job to fall into your lap.

fall

I know of a fulltime physics job if anyone wants to pm.

Advertising and getting no joy.

Seannew1

About to start PME year 2 and have been told to stump up more than 6k even though I will spend most of the year working unpaid on school placement. I will get 2 supervised visits and not be able to avail of "college services" during this time. Rip off republic still very much alive and well.

evolving_doors

Seannew1 wrote: »

About to start PME year 2 and have been told to stump up more than 6k even though I will spend most of the year working unpaid on school placement. I will get 2 supervised visits and not be able to avail of "college services" during this time. Rip off republic still very much alive and well.

What do you mean by college services?

Seannew1

evolving_doors wrote: »

What do you mean by college services?

Library, gym etc etc

Mardy Bum

Seannew1 wrote: »

evolving_doors wrote: »

What do you mean by college services?

Library, gym etc etc

Disgraceful carry on by the university.

evolving_doors

Seannew1 wrote: »

Library, gym etc etc

Jeez now that's stingy. What would it really cost them?

rainbowtrout

Seannew1 wrote: »

About to start PME year 2 and have been told to stump up more than 6k even though I will spend most of the year working unpaid on school placement. I will get 2 supervised visits and not be able to avail of "college services" during this time. Rip off republic still very much alive and well.

Are you not able to avail of college services because you physically won't be there or because the college is actively blocking you from using them? Because your post reads quite like a tabloid headline at the moment.

Why are you surprised you have to pay fees for the second year of your course? Surely this is not a surprise. College courses cost money.

amacca

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Are you not able to avail of college services because you physically won't be there or because the college is actively blocking you from using them? Because your post reads quite like a tabloid headline at the moment.

Why are you surprised you have to pay fees for the second year of your course? Surely this is not a surprise. College courses cost money.

While I take your general point my point on this would be its debatable if there should be a second year of college course at all.

Ive heard several criticisms of the new two year PME which seem like they could hold water to me chief amongst them being.....its the same material that was in the one year course stretched over two years and its just a way towards charging two years worth of fees for the PME ...ie: A nice little earner for third level institutions....imo if teachers as a group had their heads screwed on they would be working towards/fighting for quotas based on academic ability/results for in demand subjects where there are lots of applicants and some attempt to match the number of vacancies to graduates or have a reasonable surplus to justify the course fee charges for the student teacher as well as the college offering the course

rather than letting as many as want to do it get the course if they have the money and continue the race to the bottom

rainbowtrout

amacca wrote: »

While I take your general point my point on this would be its debatable if there should be a second year of college course at all.

Ive heard several criticisms of the new two year PME which seem like they could hold water to me chief amongst them being.....its the same material that was in the one year course stretched over two years and its just a way towards charging two years worth of fees for the PME ...ie: A nice little earner for third level institutions....imo if teachers as a group had their heads screwed on they would be working towards/fighting for quotas based on academic ability/results for in demand subjects where there are lots of applicants and some attempt to match the number of vacancies to graduates or have a reasonable surplus to justify the course fee charges for the student teacher as well as the college offering the course

rather than letting as many as want to do it get the course if they have the money and continue the race to the bottom

I know doing a college course for two years which could previously be done in one is a pure waste of time, but that's not what is the issue here. If the OP is registered for a two year course, then there are going to be fees for the second year. Whether that represents value for money or not is an entirely different matter.

doc_17

What’s the latest on the talks between Unions and dept re pay equalisation? If I remember correctly there were several motions at Congress regarding striking if it wasn’t done in a timely fashion. There were talks in May that were adjourned but I can’t remember why. Did they breakdown? Did they agree to talk again in September?

deiseindublin

Talks were initially supposed to finish in May, the lack of action and updates are a joke, as for expecting the TUI to follow through on any promise they make, well, at this stage I'd consider that naive, 20 years on, I should know better.....

Dickie10

I just came through the PME, I have to say it was very stretched out and could have been completed perhaps in 18 months easily. say start in sept and finish at xmas the following year at the most. Also re. the amount of students doing it, this year numbers were down a bit, but the people it attracts would be questionable. There were some brilliant students on the course I would say 70%. but there were also a good cohort who really didnt care too much about teaching and were openly saying it was just the holidays they were doing teaching for. they were also very immature and there were numerous episodes of lecturers having to get onto them for coursework not being completed, absenteeism, talking in lectures , messing on phones etc. But sure I suppose that dosent mean they will not be brilliant teachers, i never seen them teach. The biggest thing I would notice about the PME is the amount of students who come from the same backgound, mainly white, middle class and rural. a huge amount of farmers, sons and daughters. not that it matters just interesting to see how alike every one on the course was.

Starkystark

Dickie10 wrote: »

The biggest thing I would notice about the PME is the amount of students who come from the same backgound, mainly white, middle class and rural. a huge amount of farmers, sons and daughters. not that it matters just interesting to see how alike every one on the course was.

You need to mix more with your class.

doc_17

I it wasn’t for the holidays I wouldn’t be teacher and I’d say there’s plenty more like me. You couldn’t do that job with 20 days a year off.

mtoutlemonde

doc_17 wrote: »

I it wasn’t for the holidays I wouldn’t be teacher and I’d say there’s plenty more like me. You couldn’t do that job with 20 days a year off.

Read an interview with a county footballer who said he was training to be a teacher simply because he would be finished early everyday and all summer off. It didn't say what sector he was going into but if post primary, he wouldn't have the best subjects but would probably pick up a job quicker than the rest of us.

poster2525

Dickie10 wrote: »

The biggest thing I would notice about the PME is the amount of students who come from the same backgound, mainly white, middle class and rural. a huge amount of farmers, sons and daughters. not that it matters just interesting to see how alike every one on the course was.

From my experience, I'm not surprised there continues to be an influx of these students into teaching courses. What's the alternative for all these educated young people?


In the southeast there's a significant deficit of IDA supported jobs. There's a decline in year on year employment, and a greater proportion of minimum wage jobs.

Take a look at this report: http://www.senser.ie/SE-Economic-Monitor.php

The south east is reorientating towards a lower income lower skill economy.

evolving_doors

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Read an interview with a county footballer who said he was training to be a teacher simply because he would be finished early everyday and all summer off. It didn't say what sector he was going into but if post primary, he wouldn't have the best subjects but would probably pick up a job quicker than the rest of us.

County footballer! Lol! He probably has a job already lined up in his local primary school.

judeboy101

evolving_doors wrote: »

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Read an interview with a county footballer who said he was training to be a teacher simply because he would be finished early everyday and all summer off. It didn't say what sector he was going into but if post primary, he wouldn't have the best subjects but would probably pick up a job quicker than the rest of us.

County footballer! Lol! He probably has a job already lined up in his local primary school.

We had a very well known intercounty footballer on our staff for a few years. Every Friday he was given afternoon off to get back home for training , this wasn't time tables, it was just out of subbing. Anytime he had a league match or whatever he had Monday off. Principal always seemed to get all Ireland final tickets, suspiciously.

rainbowtrout

poster2525 wrote: »

From my experience, I'm not surprised there continues to be an influx of these students into teaching courses. What's the alternative for all these educated young people?

And there is still a view in rural communities that these are secure, well paid government jobs with a stable income and pension. Jobs that you can get in any county in the country. Jobs that you can do part time farming with too.

I was amazed at the amount of our TY students who opted for a stint in a primary school as one of their work experience blocks this year. I would say somewhere between a third and half of them opted for it.

markodaly

Dickie10 wrote: »

The biggest thing I would notice about the PME is the amount of students who come from the same backgound, mainly white, middle class and rural. a huge amount of farmers, sons and daughters. not that it matters just interesting to see how alike every one on the course was.

You can blame the Irish Language requirement on that, if you did the PME for the primary. We are essentially narrowing down the focus on would be teachers to an ever smaller cohort of people. This is an issue that will explode in the near future, where more and more people living in this state was not born here yet those in the civil service, gardai, teaching come from old-school rural Irish stock.

evolving_doors

markodaly wrote: »

You can blame the Irish Language requirement on that, if you did the PME for the primary. We are essentially narrowing down the focus on would be teachers to an ever smaller cohort of people. This is an issue that will explode in the near future, where more and more people living in this state was not born here yet those in the civil service, gardai, teaching come from old-school rural Irish stock.

Nope! Nothing to do with Irish language requirement. It's the same on post primary.

judeboy101

evolving_doors wrote: »

markodaly wrote: »

You can blame the Irish Language requirement on that, if you did the PME for the primary. We are essentially narrowing down the focus on would be teachers to an ever smaller cohort of people. This is an issue that will explode in the near future, where more and more people living in this state was not born here yet those in the civil service, gardai, teaching come from old-school rural Irish stock.

Nope! Nothing to do with Irish language requirement. It's the same on post primary.

I put it down to immigrants and Irish born sons/daughters of immigrants having enough sense not to get into teaching.

Postgrad10

Any principal /deputy principals on here finding it hard to get teachers for jobs this summer? If so what subjects ?