Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta fá choinne na ceiste. Aontaím leis an Teachta maidir leis an bhrú atá ar na múinteoirí agus príomhoidí uilig sna bunscoileanna. Tá dualgais agus freagrachtaí orthu agus bíonn an ról ag athrú i gcónaí. Tuigim an fhadhb agus na deacrachtaí.

I have engaged with the relevant stakeholders and I am fully aware of the concerns of school principals. I do not intend to meet the group in question as the issues of concern to the group are being addressed in my ongoing engagement with the primary education forum.

The primary education forum was established in September 2018 and aims to support the planning and sequencing of change in the primary school sector and to exchange information on the intent and impacts of the actions in the Action Plan for Education in order to look for synergies and opportunities to streamline implementation and address workload issues. Through adopting this approach, my Department and partners already have agreed to make several changes to the pace and sequence of planned reforms.

In budget 2019, school leadership was again supported, with an additional release day for teaching principals in primary schools and a further four additional release days for teaching principals in schools with special classes. Building on the number of release days provided in recent budgets is one of my priorities as Minister.

Having listened to the Irish Primary Principals' Network, IPPN, which brought to my attention the issue of having a second adult present in one-teacher schools during the school day, my Department is making available additional resources where gaps are identified to ensure that there are two adults present for all of the school day. There is currently no temporary replacement panel to recruit short-term replacement teachers. However, following from the action plan for teacher supply, my Department is currently undertaking an analysis of the potential for a supply panel scheme for primary schools.

I understand the pressure faced by principals, especially teaching principals, and I was delighted to meet principals to discuss this issue when I recently spoke at the IPPN conference. Working towards making progress and addressing this issue is a priority. Some principals could not attend the conference because they could not get substitute cover. I am very aware of the acute problem and that of teacher supply.

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