Principals face time warp

A number of primary principals of small schools have called for "at least" a half-day a week with substitute cover to allow them to deal with administrative and organisational work. Their calls came at last week's conference of the Primary Principals' Network, in Malahide, Co Dublin. They cited the lack of secretarial and care-taking facilities.

"I'm in a two-teacher school. I have to teach four programmes and do everything else," said one principal. "And I'm very fortunate to have a secretary and I dread to this think that I will lose her in September. "The smaller schools are often overlooked. Amalgamation is not the answer. Often you feel that everything is a rush from the minute you go in to the time you go home. It's such a flurry, chopping and changing all the time."

One principal said she has to empty the bins herself every Monday, and "get up and fix the windows" because she does not have a caretaker.

"It's not about money. A lot of people would forego an increase in their salary if we could get more facilities and back-up. Those in one-teacher schools have eight programmes to teach. How can you do eight programmes every day? How do they think that we can do eight years' work in a year? "With children you have to be there, you have to be on your peak performance."

"So many things are being thrust on us too fast," another principal of a two-teacher school said. "They didn't train us in time to handle the computers. The training is only going on now, and everything is happening like that. Everything is thrust on to the schools. We just cannot keep going."

More than 440 principals gathered over two days to address a number of issues, including the plight of the working principal, which "is currently untenable and unsustainable", said John Kavanagh, chairman of the PPN.

"I don't have a staffroom," another principal said. "I have no office, no secretary, no ancillary room. It was only with parents' help that we got a portacabin, which does as a remedial room."

Another principal was wistful: "How are we going to come up with beautiful plans if we haven't time?" The current qualifying enrolment threshold to the scheme introduced in 1992 to provide additional capitation grants for primary schools towards the cost of caretaking and clerical services, is 195 pupils. The scheme, which has been extended to include more schools, has the "ultimate target of providing grant-aid to all primary schools with 100 pupils or more", the Minister for Education and Science has told the Dail.

A spokesman for the Department says that from the start of the next school year there will be an increase of 20 per cent in the direct capitation grant to schools. This money is intended for use by schools towards general running costs.

Remedial teachers will meet Friday, 12th March, in Portlaoise, Co Laois, for a seminar on developing an effective support structure for learning. E&L incorrectly reported last week that the seminar, which is being organised by the Irish Learning Support Association, was to take place on Friday the 5th. Also, the seminar is for members of the ILSA only.