Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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As we approach the end of the school year in many primary schools, I acknowledge the hard work of many school principals and teachers but I also highlight an issue, the overloading of principals, particularly teaching principals. I met with many school principals in my own county of Offaly and they have told me that their workload is excessive, that it is continues to be extremely bureaucratic and that it is leading to burnout. Many principals cannot focus on teaching and learning because they are pulled in so many different directions with administration. Principals have pointed out to me that their management does not just extend to the school team, that is, the mainstream teachers and pupils, because they also have EAL teachers, SNAs and many ancillary staff coming in and out of the school. This is an issue we really need to get grips with or we are going to see an exodus of principals, especially teaching principals, from our schools.

I will focus on research that has been done and, at the end of my contribution, on solutions. In April, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, passed a motion at its annual congress regarding the unsustainable workload facing school principals. The resolution found that the current demands and expectations placed upon principals are unreasonably high, raising serious concerns about burnout and long-term sustainability in leadership roles.

There have been ongoing calls made for an immediate review of the special education allocation model. That is causing great frustration. I have raised it in this House before. It is putting serious pressure on primary school principals, who are often left scrambling for resources to meet the needs of students with complex needs. I have engaged regularly with the National Principals Forum, which I thank for its great work in highlighting the many issues facing teaching principals. With regard to the bureaucratic burden, the NPF recently conducted a survey on the impact of the SET allocation model I have just referred to. This survey was conducted among more than 550 primary school leaders. It concluded that 71% of respondents believed their SET allocations for the 2025-26 academic year are inadequate to meet their schools' needs, but the important piece is that the majority of principals and school leaders describe the process as chaotic, stressful, ridiculous and frustrating. We really need to take on board what school leadership are telling us. Another recent survey, this one conducted by the TUI, found that the ever-increasing workload, especially that of a bureaucratic nature, continues to be a demoralising factor. That forces many teachers out of the profession.

We really need to get to grips with this. I have a document here in my hand entitled Primary School Leadership: The Case for Urgent Action - A Roadmap to Sustainability. It was published by the IPPN. The report is extremely revealing. It highlights that there is an inordinate and disproportionate focus on managing the organisation and that this disproportionate increase in focus on managing the organisation without a corresponding increase in management supports and resources undermines the capacity of school principals to deliver greater focus on leading teaching and learning.

The chief inspector also contributes to this debate. A report from him dated between 2016 and 2020 also concludes that there is a disproportionate focus on management and administrative tasks that diverts principals from their key leadership responsibilities and undermines their effectiveness as institutional leaders in the school communities.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is raised with many of us in this House by principals up and down the country whose jobs are constantly evolving and constantly getting more challenging. I really appreciate the Deputy raising this here today.

The role of schools within communities is crucial and the Minister for Education and Youth, on whose behalf I am taking this Topical Issue, acknowledges the contribution made daily by all school leaders in the operation of our schools. International evidence is clear on the vital impact school leaders have on student outcomes and on leading teaching and learning in our schools. To ensure our school leaders are supported in an increasingly complex environment both now and into the future, Department officials are examining how best to support school leaders. A review of leadership supports is currently in development, as committed to in the programme for Government. I hope that is welcome news for the Deputy given that it was the thrust of what she asked for this evening. This review will examine current resourcing, distributed leadership, administrative and advisory supports, and professional learning supports for school leaders. Extensive consultation with stakeholders will inform this work.

The numbers employed in our schools will reach their highest ever level in this current school year. There are over 42,900 teaching posts allocated across the primary school system. This represents an increase of just over 5,000 teachers when compared with 2019-20. In three of the recent budgets, priority was given to reducing the pupil-teacher ratios in primary school by one point each year. This has brought the teacher allocation ratio to an average of one classroom teacher to every 23 pupils in all primary schools. That is the lowest level ever seen at primary level. In addition, the threshold at which a teaching principal becomes an administrative principal has been reduced from an enrolment of 176 pupils to 169 pupils. That is something the Deputy will be particularly interested in given that she queried the role and workload of teaching principals in particular. Budget 2022 ensured that each teaching principal having a minimum of one release day per week became a permanent feature in all schools. Schools with one special class received four additional release days while schools with two special classes have administrative principal status.

As well as general teaching post improvements, a new leadership framework, introduced back in 2017, allows for flexibility in identifying and prioritising the evolving leadership and management needs of a school. This shared leadership model supports school leaders in the overall management and operation of schools. It provides for the assignment and reassignment of post holders to specific roles and responsibilities to meet a school's evolving needs.

Today, one in three primary school teachers holds a management position. Budget 2024 provided for an additional 500 additional assistant principal II posts for the current school year while budget 2025 provided for the equivalent of 500 assistant principal II posts, being distributed as 110 assistant principal I posts and 251 assistant principal II posts for the purposes of fully restoring all posts of responsibility in primary schools. A revised post of responsibility schedule issued to schools in April to reflect the increase in posts of responsibility available to schools for the coming school year.

In examining leadership, the Department of Education and Youth is acutely aware that we need to protect what works well in our school systems and what serves so many of our young people so well. We want to build on the strengths of the system, to address challenges that will support our school communities and to be responsive to the needs of students in an increasingly complex world.

The programme for Government commits to a trial of new administrative support for principals and boards of management to assist with demands faced and to support school leaders in rebalancing some of their time towards leading teaching and learning. Planning for this trial is now at an advanced stage.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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I welcome the improvements the Minister of State has just listed, but in order to tackle the current bureaucratic nightmare, there are decisive solutions that could be taken. For example, there is a pilot of the small schools scheme. I completely welcome that. That is certainly one solution. If that were to be rolled out nationally where schools form clusters and support one another with admin, and if the threshold, which stipulates that the scheme is for schools of four teachers or fewer, were increased, I think it would capture and support more schools.

To give the Minister of State an idea of how bureaucratic this is becoming, since 2006 an average of 44 circulars have been issued to schools. That is a huge workload to land on any principal's desk, and that is just one layer of the workload that exists. As I said, we should look at the small schools scheme, roll it out nationally, extend it to more schools and support teachers. Teachers are managing a huge number of people. It is not just mainstream teachers, as I said; this has extended to SNAs and ancillary staff. We need to look at all that and tackle the bureaucratic nightmare quickly, efficiently and effectively before we have, unfortunately, more principals leaving their posts. It is time we put more solutions in place and allowed teachers do what they do best and what they signed up to do, which is to teach. That is what they are passionate about. I know this myself from being a former school principal. We had to do revenue returns and we had so much landing on the desk and, unfortunately, that situation has only got worse in recent years.

As I said, there are clusters of this pilot in Galway, Donegal and Mayo. I think its extension nationally would be one way of helping principals.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for sharing her own experience, which is so relevant. Ultimately, the existing models of leadership and governance in our schools place a burden on school principals as well as boards of management and the sector as a whole. It is a very difficult balance to strike to get the appropriate level of checks and balances which are critical for both our students and the industry and to make sure we are not overburdening principals, in particular, and school leaders.

Recognising these challenges, the Department of Education and Youth is now putting an increased focus on leadership and governance at school level and across the sector nationally. Department officials, in conjunction and in consultation with education partners, are examining the current policies and practices to see what elements are serving school communities well and what elements can be improved on. The Deputy put it very well herself when she said we want teachers to be able to do what they do best, that is, to teach, which is what they are passionate about. We want to empower them to be able to do that.

The Deputy mentioned the small schools project. To give her an update on that, the feedback from the 26 small schools has been really positive. That is reflected in the interim evaluation report, which is due to be published by the Department shortly. The independent review identifies potential areas for closer collaboration and an analysis of the scalability of actions already undertaken. There will be evaluations as this continues. I reassure the Deputy that it will form a strong basis that will inform future policy as regards the direction for all small schools. That feeds into the delivery of this important programme for Government commitment we have.

As regards the new administrative supports, there are currently trial roles being actively recruited in two of the six clusters, which is really interesting. We will be able to evaluate that. It will look at things like leadership and governance, at both primary and post-primary level, and will all be about supporting school leaders and the school communities better. As the Deputy said, the small schools pilot will be really interesting for us to learn from and, hopefully, to be able to get learnings that we can roll out right throughout Ireland.