Towards a Better Future

Chapter Nine: Initial Teacher Education and Induction
Another contemporary issue causing concern is that the salaries available for newly-qualified teachers
are significantly lower than those for their established colleagues are, and is a cause of serious
dissatisfaction and is corrosive of esprit de corps within the profession. It is heartening that
negotiations between the DES and some of the teacher unions have begun to address the
amelioration of this salary discrepancy.
The lack of a satisfactory policy on teacher supply and demand has been an acknowledged weakness
in Irish educational planning. A Technical Working Group (TWG) has been working on the issue
and submitted its final Report in November 2015. It has made fourteen recommendations (TWG,
2015, pp. 37-42). Accepting the problems and complexities of the issue, its main recommendation
was the establishment of a Standing Group on teacher supply, to be set up in June 2016, well-staffed
and well-resourced, to continue the TWG’s work on a continuous basis. This highlights the need for
a much more focussed approach to teacher supply issues into the future than has been experienced
in the past. It also points out the ‘risk to the stability of planning if any one provider can recruit an
unlimited number of student teachers in any given year’ (TWG, 2015, p. 40).
The well-being of a teacher profession has many dimensions to it. The resource of a well-educated
and committed teaching force for the continuing progress of a society is of central importance.
Ireland has a valuable asset in its teaching force, but protecting its future quality requires vigilance
and long-term planning. The major transition phase in teacher development that Irish society has
been undergoing requires sustained public attention and support.
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