THE TRADE UNION representing secondary school teachers has said the government will need to increase the number of secondary school teachers by about 3,000 over the coming years in order to cater for the growing population.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) says the teachers will need to be recruited over the next twelve years in order to cater for an 18 per cent increase in the number of people attending second level education.

TUI president Bernie Ruane said the government “must not skimp” on the requirement to hire new teachers, and said it was vital that it make allowances for the need to recruit more teachers in the coming years.

“The Department’s student projections show that student numbers at second level will rise significantly from today’s total of 325,000 to around 383,000 by 2025, an increase of 58,000 or 18 per cent,” Ruane said.

Clearly this will necessitate the employment of the appropriate additional number of teachers to at least maintain the current pupil teacher ratio.

We estimate that 3,000 additional teachers – around 230 per annum – would need to be added to the second level education system over this period.

Ruane added that it would be “unconscionable” that students attending secondary schools later in the decade could have their education affected by what would otherwise lead to a major increase in the pupil-teacher ratios

“This would fly in the face of the very purpose of the Department of Education and Skills and would be a perversion of public policy,” Ruane said.

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