Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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192. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to review the 1973 determination by her Department in respect of administrative time for teaching principals [27085/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Prior to 2022, principal release days were allocated on the basis of the number of mainstream teachers in the school.

As part of Budget 2022 measures, I ensured that all schools with a teaching principal have a minimum of 37 Principal Release Days. i.e. one administrative day per week. Schools with one special class have 4 additional release days, a total of 41 in the school year and schools with 2 special classes have administrative principal status. These allocations are set out in Circular 26/2022, which superseded previous circulars 19/2020 and 14/2001.

Schools may employ a substitute teacher for the day to facilitate the principal’s release day. Alternatively, schools may cluster their release days with other schools in order to create a full-time fixed-term post. For the 2024/25 school year, schools may combine their Special Education Teaching (SET) hours with principal release days in order to create a full-time post. The inclusion of principal release days in cluster posts allows for consistency in the teaching cover provided to schools.