Rose Conway-Walsh Warns of Substitution Crisis in Schools

Minister, our education system is at crisis point and many schools are struggling to stay afloat. School leaders are working up till midnight every night trying to source subs for their schools for the next day. Many of these positions remained unfilled, many classes end up with no teacher to take them, and according to the INTO survey nearly a third of substitutable days were not covered. Will the Minister accept that there is a substitution crisis in our schools? Minister, referring to my previous question, are you saying that we do not need school-specific contact tracing? Who will do the contact tracing if you say there is no way that teachers or principals will have to do it? Thank you, Deputy Minister. Thank you, Cathaoirleach. I would be the first to acknowledge that these are difficult and challenging times, not just presently but indeed throughout the pandemic, for all school leaders, for all school communities. There has been an extraordinary generosity by school leaders and school communities to do what needs to be done in terms of delivery of education and indeed to pivot in other directions when it was not possible to maintain that delivery within the school setting and to provide remote teaching and learning. Certainly, there are challenges continuing within the education sector, particularly as you have referenced in terms of substitution. I want to acknowledge that there has been extraordinary cooperation between the partners in education and others in terms of finding a pathway forward. It is more acute in some areas than others and it is a considerable challenge. There have been significant measures put in place over the last number of weeks and again this week, this evening. For example, following positive engagement with the HEIs over the last number of weeks and including today, we are now in a position to say that there will be an opportunity for the HEIs to facilitate release of PME and B.Ed. year 3 and 4 students to support schools up to the end of term. The HEIs have also agreed to explore flexible options in relation to the assessment requirements for programmes in the context of students being available to support schools also, which I think is an important consideration. Retired teachers returning to the classrooms up to the end of the current term will not have their pensions impacted. Qualified teachers on secondment to the department's teacher education support services will now be released and made available to the schools. The CPD programmes which are being followed at primary school, all CPD where substitution is required, will be deferred until the February midterm break and it is intended that this CPD will be rescheduled, obviously, following the midterm break. In terms of supply panels, there will be additionality also added to the supply panels, 100 added in the last week or so, a further 200 bringing us now to 680 teachers on a full-time basis available and there are also other measures. I welcome all of these measures and there are some efforts being made to tackle substitution in terms of deploying student teachers, albeit that we were calling for this for some time now, but it is only part of a solution. Much more can be done and every school must have access to a substitution panel. This is an emergency and we need all hands on deck here. Student teachers will not solve this crisis alone. There are several hundred teachers on secondment to other bodies. I would not usually advocate this, but we are in an emergency. Surely it is time to identify some of these teachers to return back to classrooms. We know that principals are under incredible pressure to find sub-cover. We know that sometimes they have no other option but to deploy a special education teacher to cover a mainstream class. This is not by choice but by necessity. Last year schools were able to bank those special education hours to protect special education teaching time for children with additional needs. I cannot understand why this year, when the substitution crisis has deteriorated even further, banking is no longer an option. This is one thing you can do immediately, Minister. Thank you, Deputy Minister. Again, just to reiterate and I want to be very clear about this, no one single measure is sufficient of itself to meet the challenges that are particularly acute in some areas more than others. I have already referenced the fact that those who are on secondment, particularly those who are on secondment to our PDST, will be released and made available. I think that is an important measure. I think it is important to say also that there have been a number of measures announced in the last while and these are additional measures that are being announced today. Equally so, we are looking at, and you have specifically referenced the substitution panels as I have referenced also, where we now have full-time opportunities being employed, being made available to teachers, to make themselves available for emergency coverings schools. These panels have been expanded. Prior to this government being formed, there were six of them in the country, and indeed we continue to keep that under review and add additionality with more than 680 teachers made available as well. There is also in terms of teachers and supply panels completing DRIHID in order to assist with the recruitment of teachers. In the context of the pandemic, the Teaching Council has confirmed that teachers with secure posts and supply panels will also be eligible to complete DRIHID. Minister, you need to safeguard the special educational teaching. So my question is, will you reverse the decision to remove bank special education hours, yes or no? Minister, I will go back to my previous question again. Do you think that there is no need for school-specific contract tracing? And also, what happens with the time delay of having antigen tests delivered to schools? I really think that the teachers and parents need more clarity around that. Again, just to clarify, in terms of substitution, it is a whole myriad of measures that are being made available to schools, and not one single measure. Specifically in terms of special education, I think it is very important that children who need to avail of particular supports, as they have particular special education challenges, that they should receive that support at the time that they are scheduled to receive it. I do not think it is helpful to pit one group of students against another group of students, but I do think it is important that as the need arises and as students are timetabled for special education support, they should receive it at that time. In terms of contact tracing, again, I want to be very clear on the reference you make to public health. As public health continues to be available to schools currently and in the future, in terms of any particular issues that might arise in schools, and I have already outlined previously what the new mechanism will be, bearing in mind that this is the expert recommendation of the CMO and of public health, who have supported the running of our schools right from the very beginning and the onset of this pandemic. Thank you. Thank you.