IPPN

Published: 14 January 2008

The manner in which the Public Service Benchmarking Body (PSBB) dealt with Principals and Deputy Principals has evoked mixed reactions. The IPPN Executive has considered the report and has categorised the views as follows:

Positives

1. Since 2000, IPPN has worked relentlessly to ensure that Principals' issues were to the fore and that a professionally-researched, coherent submission was made on behalf of Primary Principals to the PSBB. Obviously, the goal of a separate salary scale for Principals must wait for another day, but some progress has been made.

2. The persistent highlighting by IPPN of the recruitment and retention crisis in Principalship proved to be a critical factor as it was the key criterion used by the PSBB in prioritising awards.

3. Primary Principals were one of only two grades to receive any increase in the entire education sector. It is quite remarkable that, for the first time ever, the Primary Principal has been singled out for special attention. Only a few Public Service grades received increases of any description and 30% of the total value of the increases recommended to Public Servants will go to Primary Principals and Deputies.

4. Great credit goes to all Principals who assisted with the research for IPPN's Investing in School Leadership (2006) and to everyone who made personal submissions to the PSBB on behalf of Primary Principals. Other research, such as Quality Leadership Quality Learning, New Horizons for Teaching Principals & Smaller Schools and the HayGroup Report on the Role of the Primary Principal, were also considered by the PSBB.

Negatives

1. Regrettably the PSBB report did not place Principal Teachers on a separate salary scale as per IPPN's research document - Investing in School Leadership. In the absence of a separate salary scale, increases to Principals' allowances can only have minimum impact on one's overall salary.

2. The practice of Principals being paid as teachers with an allowance for Principalship cannot effectively establish a sufficient differential between Principal, Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal, Special Duties Teacher and Teacher. Without such differentials in pay, teachers will be disincentivised from applying for Principalship.

3. This failure to place Principal Teachers on a separate scale, like every other managerial grade in the Public Service, will prolong the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis. Deputy Principals of larger schools continue to be paid more than Teaching Principals - this is both profoundly unjust and one of the main reasons why there is a severe shortage of applicants for Principalship.

4.Rewarding Principals with a Teacher's salary plus a Principal's allowance will always penalise Teaching Principals as their 'Principal Pay' is linked to school staff size and therefore a small allowance. If Principals of smaller schools were paid a Principal's salary with an additional allowance for their teaching role, the complexity and challenge that Teaching Principals encounter daily, would be meaningfully reflected in their salary.

5. Parity with Second Level Principals has not been established by the PSBB report. Primary Principals require a greater number of teachers than Second-level Principals in order to receive the same allowance.

6. The PSBB report stated that "The outcome of the job evaluation exercise did not support parity between Primary and Post-Primary Principals as the jobs of Principals of Post-Primary schools were found to be more demanding than those at Primary level." This is a most objectionable comment for very obvious reasons.

7. The PSBB report failed to take account of the significant numbers of non-teaching staff managed by Principals.

8. Principals of large primary schools have been unfairly discriminated against when compared to their Second-level counterparts. Second-level schools have allowance bands to cater for up to 60+ teachers whereas the maximum allowance band at primary level is 36+.

The Bottom Line

The table below shows the current salary reward for Principals and the recommended increases as per the report of the PSBB. The table cannot show every individual scenario but is based on the highest point on the common basic scale with an Honours Degree (Principals may hold a pass degree, honours degree, masters degree or a doctorate). The last column demonstrates the actual percentage increase in terms of overall salary.

Is sinne le meas,

Larry Fleming Virginia O'Mahony Seán Cottrell