IPPN

Last Updated: Friday, 15 May 2009 16:33

Over 300 Principals of Primary Schools are set to retire at the end of the current school year. This exodus is unprecedented in modern times and is due mainly to the collective impact of the recent education cuts which are decimating primary education, lowering staff morale and making the role of the Principal stressful and frustrating.

Principals are retiring in unprecedented numbers because they no longer feel that they can stand over the quality of service to the half a million children attending the country's 3,300 primary schools.

Data from the IPPN advertising website EducationPosts.ie indicates that since January alone, over 150 Primary Principals have signalled their intention to retire. This is a significant increase compared with the same period last year. This large turnover of school leaders will see a massive loss of leadership experience in the primary sector.  'Unfortunately, this could not be coming at a worse time when fewer and fewer teachers are interested in applying for the post of Principal' said Larry Fleming, President of IPPN. 'A significant percentage of these Principals are taking early retirement' he added.

7 out of 10 Principals are also charged with the dual role of classroom teaching and the day-to-day management of the school. Factors such as increased class sizes, recruitment embargoes, the withdrawal of certain grants, the suppression of special classes for children with mild general learning difficulties and the threat of reduced SNA support is forcing many Principals to consider their position. The recent move to reduce and phase out certain aspects on In-school Management structures has been described as the last straw by many Principals as this is the only support structure in their day-to-day management of the school. This will inevitably lead either to increased duties for already overloaded Principals or the curtailment of various vital services to children and parents such as Book Rental Schemes, standardised assessments, library provision & paired reading - activities that would normally be managed by a middle management layer which will be gradually dismantled.

IPPN, as a professional body for school Principals, is determined to support, encourage & guide all Principals in these difficult times and in particular we recognise the enormous challenge of supporting and mentoring the unprecedented number of newly appointed Principals.

Additional Point:
In addition to the role of Principal, schools currently appoint a Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal and Special Duties Teachers. A recent directive by the Department of Finance will phase out both assistant Principals and Special Duties teachers by placing an embargo on their replacement arising from their retirement, resignation, career break or maternity leave. This presents a real problem for schools whereby the normal promotional structure, if followed, will cause the loss of promotional grades. The only way this can be avoided is, if junior teachers or those without existing posts of responsibility are appointed ahead of their promoted colleagues if or when the post of Deputy Principal becomes vacant.

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