Teacher shortages: Colleges are hoping for late bounce in teacher CAO applications as more places open | CPT PPP Coverage

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When the CAO standard deadline passed on February 1, there was an 11pc dip in first preference applications for primary teaching from last year, down to 2,259.

Previous Department of Education predictions for a steady decline in pupil numbers and a flattening of the need for teachers, would have fed into the school-leavers’ decisions around CAO choices.

But primary school enrolment projections were turned on their head by the arrival of more than 10,000 Ukrainian pupils in the past year, reversing a decline in numbers since 2018 .

In addition, recent Government initiatives to improve the pupil-teacher ratio, to add more schools to the Deis scheme for disadvantaged communities from September and to increase special education teacher provision, have created more job opportunities.

Many primary teaching graduates are also working abroad, particularly in the Middle East, often citing the lack of and cost of accommodation in Ireland, especially in Dublin.

The recruitment difficulties facing primary schools have been very evident, particularly around filling fixed-term vacancies such as a maternity leave or a career break, often the starting point for a teaching career.

Hundreds of extra primary teaching places are opening in colleges this year and next in the hope of improving supply, many of them at Marino Institute of Education (MIE), Dublin, including a BEd to teach through the medium of Irish

MIE president Professor Teresa O’Doherty said “there was never a better time to study to be a teacher than now”.

Prof O’Doherty said the additional places had been announced since the CAO February 1 deadline, and she hoped applicants would “take another look” before the CAO ‘change of mind’ cut-off on July 1.

“Previously we would have thought we were going to have an oversupply of teachers because that is what the demographics were saying, but life isn’t like that. Now there are more job opportunities,” she said.

A recent survey of MEI students, found that most, 59pc, would like to teach outside of Dublin, while 39pc said they would like to teach in Dublin itself.

The survey also found that almost one in three students (31pc) would like to teach in a multi-denominational school, while two in three expressed a preference to teach in a denominational school.

Almost nine in 10 primary schools remain under Catholic control and moves to transfer the patronage of some of them to a multi-denominational ethos have been very slow.

Prof O’Doherty said that the top reason chosen in surveys for picking teaching as a career was “making a difference and having a positive impact on the lives of their students”.