Minister Bruton announces changes to Support Leaders in our Schools
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Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The biggest influence on a child in a school is the quality of their teachers and the leadership within the school. Today’s announcement marks a significant investment by the government in supporting and encouraging leadership in our schools.
We have set the goal to be the best in Europe by 2026. Realising this goal involves delivering on ambitious targets in areas such as literacy and numeracy, embedding digital technologies in teaching and learning, breaking down cycles of educational disadvantage and supporting children with special educational needs.
School leaders will be pivotal to delivering in these areas and this government is committed to investing to support and empower them to do so. These changes are in addition to the other supports recently introduced through the Centre for School Leadership including a new postgraduate diploma in school leadership, a mentoring programme for newly appointed principals and a coaching service for school leaders.
The 1,300 extra posts being announced today build on the 1,300 extra posts which have already been rolled out in primary schools.
A circular issued today to all schools and will take immediate effect. It will detail the following changes:
Allocation of Assistant Principal posts of responsibility
Announcing the changes, Minister Bruton said:
“We are lucky in Ireland to have excellent leaders in our schools. I want to support these leaders and encourage and empower others to show leadership during my time as Minister. These changes will do just that and are key to achieving our ambition to make Ireland’s education and training service the best in Europe by 2026.”
“It is a great time to become a teacher. The hundreds of new positions being announced today will provide promotional opportunities for teachers. After today’s announcement 1 in 3 (34.5%) teachers will be in promoted positions in our schools.”
ENDS
A total of 257 teachers are currently enrolled in the new postgraduate diploma in school leadership (Level 9). The course is part-funded by the department.
The coaching service for school leaders was launched at the end of January, 2017 with capacity annually for up to 400 principals.
Every newly appointed principal in a primary or post-primary school has access to a trained CSL mentor since September 2017. A total of 400 experienced principals have now trained as mentors.
Leadership positions in post primary schools
2016/17 | 2017/18 | |
Total number of AP I/ AP II positions | 7300 | 8600 |
Total Deputy Principals | 643 | 856 |
Total Principals | 737 | 741 |
Total in leadership positions | 8680 | 10197 |
Total teachers | 27966 | 29550 |
Allowances for posts of responsibility increase with the level of responsibility. On appointment an Assistant Principal I receives an annual allowance of €8,520 while an Assistant Principal II will receive €3,769.
The Circular is available below: