Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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963. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on correspondence regarding the appointment of an additional administrative deputy principal for a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; if she will engage directly with the board of management of this school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37772/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The criteria for the appointment of an administrative deputy principal to a school, which are enrolment related, are set out in Appendix B of Circular, 0005/2015 Staffing Arrangements in Primary Schools for the 2015/16 school year and is available on the Department website. The school referred to by the Deputy has one administrative deputy principal post. The current staffing arrangements at primary level do not include the allocation of more than one administrative deputy principal to a primary school.

Economic constraints and the moratorium on recruitment albeit alleviated to some extent for schools, have presented challenges within the education sector. They also provide an opportunity to review the role of the principal so that our principals are leaders of learning, and to reconfigure the middle management structure to support principals in their role, ensuring ownership of responsibility rather than tasks, thereby building expertise and supporting a career path within the profession.

The Department, in consultation with the representative management bodies has commenced an exploration of the opportunities to support and thereby advance our understanding of the needs of school leaders and how they might be addressed.