Irish teachers lured by Scottish
schools
Scottish schools are trying to fill gaps in their classrooms by luring teachers from Ireland.
A campaign with the slogan Enjoy Teaching, Enjoy Life is to be launched in Ireland after Christmas.
Aberdeenshire Council has already announced plans to solve its teacher shortage by recruiting Irish graduates.
The council’s head of corporate communications Andrew Hillier said: “There is a shortage of teachers in Scotland and it is notoriously difficult to recruit anybody to the north-east.
“My understanding is that there are far more teachers produced in Ireland than there are jobs. So we need to make sure we get those teachers at source.”
At Aboyne Academy — a secondary school in the council’s jurisdiction — parents recently paid £120-an-hour for a private tutor because of a shortage of science teachers.
According to the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), only 6 per cent of higher diploma graduates find a permanent job in Ireland in their first year.
The union has 2,000 members in part-time teaching jobs, and estimates that fewer than 300 permanent positions become available each year.
ASTI’s general secretary John White said: “It doesn’t surprise me if a number of second-level school teachers are heading for Scotland. You can understand why when you look at how few get permanent jobs in their first year of teaching.”
A number of recruitment agencies are targeting Irish universities to fill teaching vacancies in Scotland.
Salaries start from £22,200 for probationary jobs, although incentives are offered to those who take a post in an area of high need.
Some agencies however feel the Scottish system has been abused by Irish teachers in the past.
“The Irish market has a surplus of around 1,500 teachers,” said Martin Kay of Route 2 Education, a teacher recruitment resource in Britain.
“Some teachers apply for vacancies in Ireland and over here, and right at the last minute they phone and say they’ve got a job back home.”
Aberdeenshire Council is also looking to hire teachers from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
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