Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
119. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the measures she is implementing to address vacant teaching posts in core subjects, following a recent departmental study which shows that there are over 1,000 unfilled teaching posts across 600 secondary schools, of which 696 of these roles were filled by a so-called ‘out of field’ (unqualified). [11007/26]
View answerEnsuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.
There are more qualified teachers than ever working in schools, with an analysis of payroll data as of November 2025 showing that there are 75,000 teachers employed in our schools across the country including 34,626 in post-primary schools. This analysis found that over 98% of allocated teaching posts were filled nationwide.?Teacher attrition remains low, with fewer than 3% resigning or retiring annually, one of the lowest rates in the OECD.
Data from November 2025 shows 0.7% of allocations (247 posts) in post-primary were vacant.? While this relatively low vacancy rate suggests that the vast majority of schools are well-staffed and able to meet the needs of their students, I acknowledge that challenges exist.
While the Department does not collate data on the number of vacant post-primary teaching posts in 2025 by subject, data published by the Department for the vacancies by subject for the 2023/2024 school year is available through the Survey of Teacher Unmet Demand in Post Primary Schools 2023/24 report, at this link <https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/f30264cc/Survey_of_Unmet_Demand_School_year_2023_24.pdf>.
In post-primary schools, about 2% of teaching posts are reported filled by qualified teachers teaching subjects they did not register with the Teaching Council to teach (out-of-field teachers). School authorities and principals decide how they deploy teachers in a school. Sometimes, a qualified teacher might teach a subject they are not officially registered with the Teaching Council to teach. It is important to note that where a teacher is registered with specific subjects with the Teaching Council, they may also be competent to teach subjects in related areas at various levels throughout the school.
A number of measures have been introduced to address out-of-field teaching:
STEM Bursary: • a €2k annual bursary for student teachers in STEM fields during the final two years of their undergraduate teacher education, with a requirement to complete at least 2 years of teaching post-qualification. An online application portal and circular have been published with payments to an expected 450 students to issue in Q2 2026.
Upskilling programmes: • free upskilling programmes for teachers are offered in high-demand subjects: Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science maths, physics, and Spanish. These flexible programmes boost teachers’ employment opportunities while addressing subject-specific teacher shortages.
It is a legal requirement for a teacher to register with the Teaching Council to receive a salary paid by the State. To register, a teacher must have a recognised teaching qualification. In circumstances where posts are unfilled for a period of time, or where a vacancy arises in a school due to a teacher taking leave, such vacancies may be filled on a short term basis by teachers who are either not registered with the Teaching Council or who are qualified to teach in another sector (e.g. a primary teacher teaching in post-primary). Schools may only employ a person who is not registered with the Teaching Council for short periods up to a maximum of 5 days, as a last resort, after all attempts at recruiting a qualified teacher have been unsuccessful.
Data indicates that the use of unregistered and out of route teachers is limited. Substitution by those teachers not registered with the Teaching Council accounts for approximately 1% of all days of instruction in the 2024/25 school year.
The Government has implemented several measures to address teacher supply issues more generally that have led to:????
• an increase of 20% in initial teacher education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023, and
• an over 30% increase in the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council since 2017.
My Department has continued the suspension of the usual limits on career break and job-sharing schemes and extended the Teaching Hours Extension Scheme for post-primary teachers to the current school year 2025/26 to increase the pool of teachers available to undertake substitute work in schools.
Budget 2026 saw an increase of 1,042 teacher posts, including 860 additional teachers working across various Special Educational Needs settings.
In 2025, a measure was announced to enable teachers gain permanent roles more quickly. Recently regulations were approved to allow?teachers who qualified overseas?to undertake their?induction in the State and incremental credit is also available to teachers returning from abroad, depending on the teaching experience gained.
A comprehensive workforce plan for the education sector, a commitment under the Programme for Government, is in development. Additionally,?a?project focused on strategic workforce planning for teachers in Ireland, led by UNESCO and supported by the EU Commission, is developing recommendations for addressing the main factors affecting teacher supply in Ireland. The recommendations put forward in the context of the project will form the basis for the development by my Department of a strategic workforce plan for the teaching workforce in Ireland.
Preparations are being made to host an education convention, a Programme for Government commitment, that will bring together all stakeholders to share their experiences, expectations, and hopes for the future of our education system.?
The teaching profession is attractive, with strong demand for teacher education programmes, with 3,600 newly qualified teachers, including 1,800 post-primary teachers, registered with the Teaching Council in 2025. Salaries are competitive, starting at €46,448 and rising to €85,000 under the current pay deal.?????
My Department frequently consults and engages closely with stakeholders on teacher supply issues through industrial relations forums, sectoral meetings, and direct discussions. ?Further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce will be considered to ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.
