Teaching has become an unattractive career for many, largely due to the duration and cost of training and the lack of permanent full-time contracts on entry into the profession. 

People argue that all professions have their issues, and of course they do, but a society simply cannot function without its teachers. So, when teachers tell you it’s not working, something has to give. Are teachers holding the State to ransom? No, but they are leaving the profession, choosing something else. That’s a problem.

A Red C/ASTI survey indicates there are unfilled teaching vacancies in almost half of all second-level schools. Eighty-one per cent of principals/deputy principals surveyed said they had employed at least one unqualified teacher this school year. 

Almost a fifth of schools were forced to remove a subject or subjects from the curriculum. The recently released survey highlights that since September 2022, almost nine in 10 schools have had situations where no substitute teachers were available to fill teacher absences. 

The poll of its members found 51% of ASTI teachers are either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, compared to 77% in 2009.

The TUI calls for urgent investment to improve conditions for teachers and students. 

“OECD indicators shows that of the 33 countries for which figures are provided, none spend a lower proportion of national wealth on education than Ireland, resulting in large class sizes, over-stretched pastoral support systems for students and education facilities which are often unsuited to modern teaching and learning. Reversal of this negligence must begin with the next budget.” 

Or, we can tell teachers they’re lazy and only in it for the holidays. That’s fine, but there won’t be any teachers left to hear it.

Refusal to access students

The second issue, the refusal of unions to assess students for State exams, is trickier and on this topic, I’ve always been at odds with both the TUI and ASTI.

I’ve never been a sports coach but I imagine teaching comes pretty close. I champion the young people in front of me, cheer them on, highlight where and how they need to improve and praise them if they get there. It’s my job to tell them the truth about their work.

This is why I can’t get on board with teacher unions in Ireland refusing to assess students for State exams.

English teacher Conor Murphy argues that the CAO turns education into a competition.

I’m not saying we don’t need certain conditions for teacher assessment to work. If we are going to go with Norma Foley’s plan of 40% coursework, we’ll need to change syllabi. We need coursework to happen over time and in classrooms under supervision. I don’t need to go into the problems posed by ChatGPT here. It’s clearly a game-changer.

We will also need time to meet as departments to moderate scripts. We need far better marking schemes and we need the department to release model answers, marked and annotated to all schools. We will need a system whereby sample scripts are moderated externally. We will need professional supports.

But the secondary unions’ position, this idea that secondary teachers should not assess students for State exams, is ludicrous and out of step with most other countries in the world. 

It’s like we’re in a room of highly qualified doctors and we’re all refusing to pick up the scalpel to perform a certain task because we feel somebody else, somebody out there, should be doing it.

There is nobody else. We’re the teachers and assessing students is what we do. As trained, qualified experts in our subjects, I’d go as far to say that we have a moral duty to assess students for whatever next step they wish to take in education.

But there is more to this topic if you care to dig a bit deeper.

For English teacher Conor Murphy, the issue is not about assessing or not assessing, it’s about the damage that the CAO system is doing to secondary level education. Articulate and passionate, Murphy argues that the CAO turns education into a competition.

“It’s about ‘beating’ another student in a system, wherein points become a currency and the whole endeavour of education, the striving for individual and societal good, is lost,” he says.

I agree with him. And like him, I encourage universities to assess students on entry into their own courses. I take Murphy’s point that there is a disconnect between secondary and third level and it is deeply unfair that my marking of a literature assignment might prevent a student from studying something as unrelated as computer science.

However, I don’t see our State exams disconnecting from third level and the CAO anytime soon and I would rather young people did not get caught in the crossfire, languishing in an ineffective system without enough trained examiners for it to function.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the unions are playing a long game that will work out and our State exams will soon uncouple from third-level entry and the CAO. 

If that happens, Conor Murphy says: “It will be a different kettle of fish altogether. It will be a turning point and I will no longer be asked to dictate whether or not someone gets the course they want. I’ll be happy to assess their work then.” 

Whatever way you look at it, either the unions or the department need to concede some ground.

Here’s hoping both or at least one side rises to the occasion.