Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the stakeholders for coming in today. It was certainly very informative. The parent-student charter is positive overall but a number of members expressed concerns in terms of the administration overload on principals. That is a huge issue to which we need to face up. We need to look at reinstating middle management, because from what I hear from other teachers on the ground, that is the real issue. Education, as we know, should always be child-centred. We have to ensure that we are not moving away from a focus on the child and are reducing the impact of administration. We have to resolve this. The only way it can be done is through the reinstatement of middle management in our schools.