Moves besides permanent contracts essential to addressing staff shortages, TUI delegates told

The move by Government to cut the amount of time new teachers must work before securing permanent contracts is welcome, but other measures are required to address the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis in secondary education, delegates at the Teachers Union of Ireland conference in Wexford were told on Tuesday.

General secretary Michael Gillespie said widespread staff shortages were being fuelled by the difficulties being experienced attracting young teachers in the face of competition from overseas but also by resignations and early retirements, many of which, he said, are being prompted by the stress of the work.

“This is a crisis of the Government’s own making,” Mr Gillespie told delegates. “It is the inevitable result of repeated decisions to forc...
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