Post of responsibility improvements welcome but measures will not redress the attrition of last ten years

By piofficer, Tuesday, 16th January 2018 | 0 comments

Circular Letter 3/2018 on Leadership and Management in Post-Primary Schools was published today.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) welcomes this announcement as a slight improvement, but its value is largely symbolic as it does not to any significant degree redress the attrition of the last ten years.

Schools will still be unable to provide the same support network that they did before the introduction of the moratorium on posts of responsibility. Moreover, many schools will accrue absolutely no benefit because they have not yet hit the low threshold set out by the circular.TUI estimates that in excess of a third of all second-level schools will gain no posts under this system. In fact, those schools which have not reached the low threshold level will continue to lose posts under the new provisions.

More could and should have been done, and in this regard the Minister and his Department have wasted an opportunity.

In October 2016, the Minister announced the creation of an additional 170 deputy principal positions, despite the filling of deputy principal positions not having been subject to the same embargo that posts of responsibility were. This money could have instead been used to restore a significant number of Assistant Principal 1 positions or Assistant Principal 2 positions or a combination of both.

It is also important to put on the record that contrary to some commentary, seniority was never a significant factor in the filling of posts of responsibility in the ETB/Community & Comprehensive School sector, where it only ever accounted for a small proportion of marks and appointments were always made on the basis of competence and decided by competitive interview. In this regard, it would be misleading to suggest that the terms for the filling of new positions represent a major departure from previous procedures.

 

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