A Cork school principal is leading calls on the Department to increase the supply panel for substitute teachers after she had to take to Twitter yesterday to try and secure a sub.12 pupils of the 30 at Owenabue Educate Together had to be sent home yesterday as there were no substitute teachers available despite the Twitter appeal.Principal Trina Golden says she managed to secure a teacher today and reopened this morning but says the shortage of substitute teachers has been rumbling on for over 15 years and Covid restrictions mean pupils from other classes can no longer be mixed so students cannot be taught without a sub.Speaking to RedFM News Trina Golden says a number of measures need to be taken immediately as currently there are only three teachers on a supply panel for 11 schools in her area:
"I do think from a personal perspective and a local perspective increasing our supply panel would alleviate the situation significantly. At the moment we have three teachers and a supply panel which is shared between 11 schools. So even adding one extra teacher to that would have a significant impact here. I'm not sure if that's replicated nationwide. But certainly locally that that would alleviate the issue."
