Taoiseach launches education recruitment website

The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern has paid a visit to St. Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra to officially launch a specialised education recruitment website.

This website www.educationposts.ie is a one stop shop for vacancies, both permanent and temporary, and covers the entire Irish teaching profession. This service is free to the job hunter and the employer and is operated by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN).

The site is updated on a daily basis and currently contains 564 CVs and vacancies for 164 teaching posts. Teachers can pre register for email notification of vacancies in requested areas. Over 1,200 teachers are now registered for this service. The website facilitates all primary school vacancies, expanding to include pre-school, post primary/second level and third level.

Jim Hayes, President of the Irish Primary Principals Network said he hoped the website would become the definitive teaching vacancy information source. "In this day and age the Internet should be the main medium in advertising teaching roles,” he said.

“This free service especially caters for the teachers of tomorrow. The concept of web based teacher recruitment is in line with international best practice and is already commonplace in Scandinavia, Canada and New Zealand."

Additional features of the website include advertisements for principal teachers, learning support, resource teachers and a host of other specialised teaching roles. The site also offers a variety of options from vacancy advice to questions and answers online, job sharing information and teacher exchange programs.

The Taoiseach said: "This new website is a step forward in bringing vital information to the people using the latest cutting edge technology. It is a very convenient resource for principals and for job applicants up and down the country. The IPPN continues to be at the forefront in work to find leading edge strategies to keep Irish education ahead and to support principals in recruiting new teachers to their schools."

(CL)