Ireland's Substitute Teacher Shortage: The Statistics Behind the Crisis
- 60% of Irish primary and special schools report being unable to find a substitute teacher when they need one
- Schools have made up to 39 phone calls to secure a single day of cover; 745 unqualified individuals worked as substitutes in state schools in 2024
- The crisis has worsened year-on-year, affects every county, and shows no sign of resolving without structural change
The Scale of the Crisis
In its most recent teacher-supply survey, published in November 2025, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN), and the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) reported responses from 565 primary and special schools.
The headline figure: 60% (336) of responding schools reported being unable to source a substitute teacher for an absence.
A year earlier, the same organisations' October 2024 survey, which drew responses from 40% of all primary and special schools, put hard numbers on the shortfall:
- 951 current staffing vacancies across responding schools at time of survey
- a projected further 1,816 vacancies by January 2025, giving a total projected shortage of 2,767 teachers
- 195 permanent posts unfilled
- 756 long-term temporary or substitute posts unfilled
Taken together, the two surveys show a shortage that has not eased between 2024 and 2025.
Sources: INTO teacher-supply survey, October 2024 and November 2025
The Cork Case Study: 39 Phone Calls
Data from the INTO's Cork branch shows what the national figures look like at school level.
107 of 138 Cork schools reported that it takes up to five calls or emails to find a single substitute teacher, and four schools reported making up to 39 calls or emails for one day of cover.
Thirty-nine calls. For one substitute. On one day.
Source: Echo Live, reporting INTO Cork branch data, October 2024
The Post-Primary Picture
The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), through its Principals' and Deputy Principals' Association (PDA), surveyed 101 second-level schools between November 2025 and January 2026:
- 75% of schools advertised positions for which no teacher applied
- 89% experienced teacher recruitment difficulties
- 19% of schools dropped subjects entirely
- 51% restricted student access to subjects
- 59% have current unfilled vacancies
- Just 6% believe enough is being done at government level
Source: TUI/PDA Teacher Recruitment and Retention Survey, March 2026
Where the Crisis Hits Hardest
Dublin carries the heaviest burden: 55% of Dublin schools reported vacancies in the November 2025 survey, and 134 permanent posts were vacant in Dublin early in the 2024/25 school year, when Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare each had more than 50% of schools reporting unfilled posts.
Special schools have the highest vacancy rate of any school type: 52% reported unfilled posts in October 2024, rising to 56% in November 2025.
DEIS schools and Gaelscoileanna report above-average difficulty. Gaelscoileanna face the additional constraint of needing Irish-medium qualified teachers.
Unqualified Substitutes: A System Under Pressure
In the 2024/25 school year, 745 unqualified individuals were working in substitute capacity in primary and special schools, with 284 of these in Dublin alone. The following year's survey recorded 283 unqualified people doing substitute work up to mid-October.
At second level, Department of Education figures obtained by TG4's 7LÁ programme for 2023/24 found that 65% of post-primary schools (472) employed at least one unqualified individual as a substitute, amounting to 4,657 unqualified individuals over the year.
The Impact on Students
- 39% of schools (505) split classes into other rooms when no sub was found (October 2024 survey); in the first six weeks of 2025/26, 215 schools splitting classes caused 735 days of disrupted learning
- 59% of schools redeployed Special Education Teachers to cover mainstream absences (65% in the November 2025 survey)
- 19% of secondary schools dropped subjects entirely (TUI 2026)
- 51% restricted student access to subjects
The Impact on School Leaders
- 19% of principals made more than 10 attempts to find urgent substitute cover
- 33% described recruitment as extremely stressful
- 86% of primary school leaders rated the Department's response as inadequate
Root Causes (TUI/PDA 2026, ranked)
- More attractive employment options outside teaching
- Unavailability of full-hour contracts
- Accommodation costs near schools
- Transport costs
76% of secondary leaders believe more could be done to remove barriers for teachers working abroad who want to return.
How ClassCover Fits Into This Picture
ClassCover cannot create substitute teachers that do not exist. No platform can. The shortage documented in this article is structural: too few teachers choosing substitute work, and no infrastructure connecting available teachers to schools that need them.
What a talent marketplace like ClassCover can do is solve the infrastructure problem.
The current system is fragmented. A teacher available to work today may not be on your supply panel. They may not be registered on Sub Seeker. They may be a recently qualified teacher in your county who has not yet connected with any school. Under the current system, that teacher and your school may never find each other.
ClassCover's model is different. Schools and substitute teachers join the same platform. Schools build a prioritised list of teachers they trust and can call on first. Beyond their list, they can reach teachers who are active and available in their area, teachers who may never have appeared through any other channel. The more schools and teachers that join, the more useful the platform becomes for everyone. That is how a marketplace works: the supply and demand find each other more efficiently, and the pool that was always there becomes visible.
In Australia, this has been proven at scale. 1 in 2 Australian schools use ClassCover. The average booking confirmation time is 2 minutes and 17 seconds. The platform covers both teachers and SNAs, something no other platform in Ireland does. Schools that were making dozens of phone calls to fill a single absence are now filling cover before the morning briefing.
The same teachers existed before ClassCover launched in Australia. What changed was the infrastructure connecting them to schools.
ClassCover is launching in Ireland in 2026 and will be the first platform to include SNA bookings alongside teacher bookings. The platform is free for substitute teachers and SNAs. Schools can pre-register now at classcoverapp.ie, and the sooner schools and teachers are on the platform, the stronger the local supply network becomes from day one.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Multiple factors drive the shortage. The TUI/PDA survey (2026) identified: more attractive employment options outside teaching, unavailability of full-hour contracts, accommodation costs near schools, and barriers for teachers abroad who want to return.
60% of primary and special schools reported being unable to source a substitute teacher for an absence, according to a survey of 565 schools by INTO, IPPN, and CPSMA published in November 2025.
Dublin is the worst-affected area. 55% of Dublin schools reported vacancies in the INTO's November 2025 survey, and 134 permanent posts were vacant in Dublin early in the 2024/25 school year. Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare each had 50%+ of schools reporting unfilled posts in October 2024.
In the October 2024 survey, 505 schools (39%) split classes into other rooms and 59% redeployed Special Education Teachers from support roles. 745 unqualified individuals worked in substitute capacity that year.
Yes. The crisis has worsened or held at crisis level year on year, with 60% of schools unable to source a substitute in the November 2025 survey.
