Sir, – Your report that there are “More than 4,600 Irish teachers working abroad as schools at home struggle with staff shortages, says study” (News, November 15th) paints an incomplete picture of how many teachers have actually left the profession by going overseas. An overseas teacher who has kept their Teacher Council registration up to date does not necessarily indicate that “they intend to return to teach in Ireland”. These are most likely the newly departed teachers who are hedging their bets and waiting to see how life overseas works out. After a few years some will return but anecdotal evidence indicates that many more don’t.
Equally, the assumption that all teachers returning to Ireland will continue to work within the education sector here is utterly unjustified.
Many will return home but will never teach again. Instead they will join the thousands of former teachers who have fled to the profitable refuge of the private sector.
A flawed study which severely underestimates the depth of the issue is unfortunate but not unexpected given that both the Teaching Council and the Department of Education were involved. – Yours, etc,
SEAN KEAVNEY,
Dublin 15.