Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider lifting the moratorium on the appointment of year heads in secondary schools, which would be seen as a positive move by teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20116/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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When the moratorium on the filling of posts of responsibility was introduced in 2009, the Government exempted Principal and Deputy Principal posts in all primary and post-primary schools. These posts continue to be replaced in the normal manner. The impact of the moratorium was therefore limited to the Assistant Principal and Special Duties posts of responsibility.

There are limited alleviation arrangements in place for schools that are acutely affected by the impact of the moratorium at Assistant Principal level. These arrangements are mainly focused at post-primary level. However, it is fair to say that before the moratorium, notwithstanding the fact that one out of every two teachers held a management allowance the workload issue and the pressures on Principals and Deputy Principals existed.

It is widely accepted that the quality of school leadership is a key determinant of school effectiveness and the achievement of good learning outcomes. Indeed international research indicates that school leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. Therefore my Department, in consultation with the representative school management bodies has commenced an exploration of the opportunities to support school leaders and how their needs might be addressed.

The recently established Centre for School Leadership (CSL) is a collaboration between my Department and the representative professional bodies for school principals. It has been created to offer professional and practical support to schools leaders. This support structure for leadership teams in schools will attempt to ensure that school leaders have opportunities to access, share and create knowledge and experience within their leadership roles.

The work of the Centre draws on best international practice and research in the professional development of school leaders. Priorities for the Centre include a new postgraduate qualification for aspiring school leaders, a mentoring programme for newly appointed school principals, coaching support for serving principals who are facing new challenges in the role, a review and alignment of leadership programmes with Department standards and the development of a quality assurance framework for leadership provision.

In addition my Department will shortly publish Looking at Our School 2016, a quality framework for schools which is designed to support the efforts of teachers and school leaders, as well as the school system more generally, to strive for excellence in our schools.

In Budget 2016 and as part of the 2,260 additional teaching posts announced in that budget, 250 posts were provided to second level schools to enable Deputy Principals to be freed from teaching time and be more fully available for leadership in schools. Thus with effect from 01 September 2016, second level schools with over 400 students will receive an allocation that will bring those schools in line with the schools that have over 500 pupils where the Deputy Principal is fully freed up for leadership in the school. A pro rata allocation of additional hours to support school leadership will also be provided to the schools with 400 or fewer students enrolled.