Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 October 2018
137. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered the introduction of a one day per week release for all teaching principals of national schools further to the recommendations at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills' 2018 summer meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41124/18]
View answerBuilding on measures in previous budgets to enhance school leadership, Budget 2018 made €0.4 million available to fund almost 4600 additional release days for teaching principals in primary schools. This additional funding has provided 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 current school year. This measure will assist teaching principals to more effectively plan their release days for the benefit of the school.
Any additional increase in the number of release days has to be considered as part of the budgetary process, alongside the many other demands from the education sector.
