New teachers to receive €2,000 incentive to take full-time jobs

New teachers could be paid a €2,000 incentive to take up jobs.

Newly qualified teachers who take up a full-time role for the coming school year will receive the payment next summer.

It comes as schools struggle to hire staff, with high accommodation costs and the lure of teaching jobs abroad among the reasons given.

According to the Irish Times the incentive scheme will apply to an estimated 2,000 teacher’s who’ve completed their professional masters of education.

The cost of the PME – about €15,000 – and duration of the two-year qualification have also been cited as “push factors” turning some graduates away from teaching.

Despite a record 121,000 teachers registered with the Teaching Council, schools reported a number of vacant posts in the last academic year.

A survey of more than 1,000 schools late last year by school management bodies found there were more than 800 vacant teaching posts across primary classes.

At second level, teachers’ unions and principals…