22nd June 2022
The Department of Education has published Circular 0043/2022 which sets out the INTO-secured restoration of 350 Assistant Principal 1 (AP1) and 1,100 Assistant Principal 2 (AP2) posts to commence in primary and special schools from September 2022. See also Circular letter 0042/2022 which sets out the context of this announcement.
The revised table of Posts of Responsibility ensures that every school with 9 or more teaching posts will see an increase in the number of assistant principal posts they are entitled to from 1 September.
Earlier this year, the INTO used the sectoral bargaining fund within Building Momentum to increase the allowances of school leaders and to facilitate the appointment of deputy principals in schools with two teachers.
The restoration of these critical middle management posts has been a longstanding campaign by the INTO since they were scrapped at the heigh of austerity with a loss of 4,500 such posts.
Work to secure the restoration of these posts saw 1,350 restored in 2017 as a result of the union’s budget campaign that year. When this initial package of posts was restored, the Government committed that this was a first step in a restoration process. However, that was not the case and, in subsequent budgets, successive governments failed to honour this commitment.
The latest tranche of posts to be restored, as announced today, is long overdue and will provide much-needed support for our school leaders as well as improving promotional opportunities for teachers.
Assistant principals work with both principals and deputy principals, sharing responsibility for a range of responsibilities, including learning and teaching, leading school development (including curriculum development), pupil support (including wellbeing), special education, planning for DEIS and inclusion.
With the return, as of today, of roughly two-thirds of these lost posts in our schools, the union is once again leading a renewed call for the final restoration of these posts to be provided for in Budget 2023. This is a core demand in our-recently published pre-budget submission.
Our annual budget submission was launched in Dublin last week, with union activists from every Dáil constituency present alongside over 90 politicians in attendance.
In Budget 2023, the INTO is seeking the full restoration of the outstanding posts. We estimate the cost to be about €11million per annum and approximately €3.7million from September to December 2023.
All INTO members will be asked to contact their public representatives in late August with a view to securing much needed supports for primary and special education
Click here to learn more about our Budget 2023 campaign.