Written answer
School Staff
The prohibition on job-sharing teachers undertaking substitute work remains suspended through the 2026/27 school year to address teacher supply difficulties.
506. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Youth the reason job-sharing teachers are not permitted to undertake substitute teaching in primary schools during the 2026-2027 school year; if this policy will be urgently reviewed given the ongoing difficulty schools face in securing qualified substitute teachers; and if job-sharing teachers will be permitted to undertake substitute work on days when they are not rostered to work in their job-sharing position. [64546/26]
Comment on this
The Job-Sharing Scheme for teachers is contained in Chapter 8 of the Department’s Circular Letter Circular 0054/2019 titled ‘Leave Schemes for Registered Teachers Employed in Recognised Primary and Post Primary Schools’. Paragraph 11.1(a) of the Job-Sharing Scheme states a teacher may not engage in any substitute teaching whilst job sharing.
In response to issues raised in relation to teacher supply, the restriction on engaging in substitute teaching, imposed in the Job-Sharing Scheme, has been suspended on a temporary basis over the last number of years.
Information Note TC/IN 0001/2026 has recently been published by my Department and provides for the extension of this temporary arrangement until the end of the 2026/27 school year.