A subsidised housing scheme may be used to attract teachers to the island to cover subjects where there are shortages, it has been revealed.

Education and Children Minister Graham Cregeen revealed the move in Tynwald when he was put on the spot about whether there was a shortage of ICT teachers in the island.

He said at the moment there were no ICT teaching vacancies in secondary schools.

But he added that the Department of Education, Sport and Culture was ’working on a range of measures’ to ensure any future vacancies were filled.

’Officers in my department are currently working with the Department of Infrastructure and Treasury on a scheme to provide subsidised housing on island for new teachers in shortage subjects, including ICT.

’Secondary head teachers have been asked to provide their best estimates of their needs for the next two years.’

Competitive

The issue of ICT teachers was raised by Bill Shimmins (Middle) and Mr Cregeen admitted it was sometimes a battle to offer competitive packages compared with ICT roles in the private sector.

He said: ’I believe the teachers that we are getting are at the standard we require, but this is a very competitive market.

’We are also looking at how we can incentivise teachers to come over here. When you are looking at some of the academies and even through the private sector, salaries in some IT industries, they are well in excess of £50,000 per year.

’That is why we are looking to work with the industry to see if we can get some of those industry experts to teach alongside our teachers.’

He said the DESC was working closely with representatives of the IT gaming industry in the island and the Manx ICT Association (MICTA) ’to see if we can find alternative ways to attract specialist ICT teachers to the island’.

Funding incentives for new teachers were also under review, he said, while training for ICT teachers was ongoing.

Mr Cregeen added: ’There have been a number of meetings with the e-gaming sector and MICTA as to how we can actually provide what the industry needs very similar to what we do with the engineering industry.’