Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2018
185. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the almost 5,000 middle management posts lost in the recession should now be restored; and the way in which he plans to resolve this issue into the future (details supplied). [29200/18]
View answerBudget 2017 allowed for the commencement of the restoration of middle management posts as part of an agreed distributed leadership model and meant lifting the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts at primary and post-primary levels. This recognises the key role school leadership has in promoting a school environment which is welcoming, inclusive and accountable.
€2.75m was allocated in Budget 2017 to restore middle management positions i.e. the equivalent of approximately 1,300 middle management posts (Assistant Principal I and Assistant Principal II) at both Primary and Post-Primary (2,600 in total).
Circular 63/2017 was issued by my Department in September 2017 which sets out a leadership and management framework for posts in recognised primary schools. Flexibility in identifying and prioritising the evolving leadership and management needs of the school, and in assigning and re-assigning post holders to specific roles and responsibilities to meet the evolving needs of a school, is an essential feature of this school leadership model.
The selection and recruitment process is well under way in most of our primary schools and the majority of these new middle management posts will be filled in the current school year.
Budget 2018 made €0.4 million available to fund almost 4600 additional release days for teaching principals in primary schools. This additional funding will see an increase in the number of release days available to teaching principals in the 2018/19 school year to 17, 23 or 29 days depending on the size of the school.
I recently announced an extension to the arrangements for schools with teaching principals to cluster their release days into full-time posts, with one teacher covering the release days of all the schools in the cluster. Up to 50 principal release cluster posts will be put in place for the 2018/19 school year. This measure will assist teaching principals to more effectively plan their release days for the benefit of the school.
The Teacher Allocation section of my Department are currently processing these applications and schools are being notified as the cluster posts are approved.
The lifting of the moratorium is an initial phase in the restoration of middle management posts and any future improvements to the number of posts allocated will be dependent on budgetary demands.
The estimated cost of lifting the moratorium on posts of responsibility and restoring them to pre-moratorium levels would be in the order of €29m.
