Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2015
550. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding principals of schools' release days; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24852/15]
View answerPrincipal duties in medium to large sized schools are carried out by administrative principals. Principal duties in small to medium sized schools are carried out by teaching principals.
Circular 25/02 which is available on the Department website outlines the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in a school year in order to assist them fulfilling their principal duties. The number of days that principal teachers may take as release time in each school year ranges between 14 and 22 days depending on the size of the school. The cost of doubling this release time would be of the order of €10m per annum.
The NCSE sanctions resource hours twice per year, in May for the following September, and again in October. Resource hours are allocated to schools through a network of permanent posts. Schools with permanent posts with surplus capacity in the post make this surplus available to neighbouring schools.The GAM/EAL allocation to each school is based on the number of classroom posts in the school in the previous year. Schools with a GAM/EAL allocation which is less than a full-time post enter into clustering arrangements with neighbouring schools to achieve a full-time post, shared between the schools.
Due to the later timeline for the allocation of resource hours by the NCSE, it is not possible to combine part-time resource hours with other staffing allocations to create full-time posts.
