Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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249. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason no provision was made in budget 2019 for further restoration of promoted posts at assistant principal level in primary and post-primary schools; the number of posts at the equivalent of AP1 and AP2 level, respectively which were suppressed through the emergency era moratorium; the current shortfall in restoring these posts; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is now no provision to restore further middle management posts before September 2020; if this is a policy to limit schools' middle management capacity; and if his attention has been further drawn to the concerns expressed by the schools' inspectorate regarding the effect of the protracted delay in restoring AP1 and AP2 posts in schools. [43205/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Assistant Principal I and Assistant Principal II (formerly Special Duties posts), along with the Principal and Deputy Principal make up the middle management structure in schools.

Budget 2017 allowed for the commencement of restoration of middle management posts as part of an agreed distributed leadership model and meant lifting the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts at primary and post-primary levels. This recognises the key role school leadership has in promoting a school environment which is welcoming, inclusive and accountable.

€2.75m was allocated in Budget 2017 to restore middle management positions i.e. the equivalent of approximately 1,300 middle management posts at both Primary and Post-Primary.  It should also be noted that in recent Budget announcements over 400 additional Deputy Principal posts were provided for in our Post Primary schools to focus on Leadership and Management in these schools. This brought the number of Deputy Principal positions at Post-Primary from 393 in the 2015/16 school year to 866 in the current school year.

In total over 3,000 leadership posts have been invested in our primary and post primary schools in the past year which has led to 1 in 3 (34.5%) teachers now holding promoted positions in our schools.

Circular 63/2017 was issued by the Department in September 2017 which deals and sets out a leadership and management framework for posts in recognised primary schools.

Circular 3/2018 is the corresponding circular for the Post-Primary Sector and it issued in early January. Both circulars are available on my Department's website.

Figures for the breakdown of teachers in promoted positions and for the number of APIs and APIIs which were in our schools prior to the moratorium are outlined in the attached tables.

The estimated cost of restoring the number of middle-management posts in our schools to pre-moratorium levels would be approximately €50m and any further restoration would have to be considered in the context of future Budgets. However, there are needs across the system which have to be balanced in the decisions made in each budget.

Budget 2019 marks the third year of a major reinvestment in the education sector, as we continue to implement the Action Plan for Education, our plan to make Ireland’s education and training service the best in Europe by 2026. In 2019, the budget for the Department of Education and Skills will increase by €674 million, a 6.7% increase on last year.  In total, the Education budget will have increased by €1.7 billion compared to 2016.

This government is committed to investing to support and empower school leaders and the recent expansion of the School Excellence Fund and an expansion of the coaching service available to school leaders will assist in this.

Schools will shortly be invited to apply to form part of a cluster to work together on innovative projects to enhance their schools in a range of important areas over the next 2 years. There will be scope for up to 42 clusters nationwide in the initial phase with each cluster containing between a minimum of three and a maximum of six schools. Priority will be given to applicant clusters containing at least one DEIS school.

Further funding has also been made available to extend the coaching service currently available to school principals, to the Deputy and Assistant Principals on their leadership teams. The service to date has been one to one coaching for principals only. DEIS schools will be prioritised for the extension of the coaching service to incorporate team coaching for the Principal and their leadership team, with up to four sessions being offered to 100 DEIS schools in the first instance.

These measures are in addition to the other supports recently introduced through the Centre for School Leadership including mentoring, a new postgraduate diploma in school leadership and the additional 3,000 middle management posts in schools.

Number of APIs and APIIs which were removed from primary and post primary schools during the moratorium

APIs - 268 at primary level and 378 at post primary level

APIIs – 1,032 at primary level and 922 at post primary level

Breakdown of teachers in promoted positions for the 2017/18 school year