Highly-experienced principals who relinquish their posts to become classroom teachers could be forced to leave their schools as a result of Department of Education guidelines on seniority, school principals have warned.
According to Mr Seán Cottrell of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), which represents some 5,500 principals and assistant principals, a recent Department of Education circular to schools will make it impossible for some principals to stand down.
The circular, which copperfastens previous Department guidelines on the issue, has led to the IPPN receiving a number of calls from concerned members.
Under the rules, any school principal who relinquishes the post automatically becomes the most junior teacher in the school, regardless of any previous years of service they may have given.
Mr Cottrell said his members have serious concerns that if the enrolment of a school drops, former principals could lose their jobs at the school under the "last in, first out" rule.
"It is insulting to the professional status of a principal teacher to be made the most junior teacher in the school," he said. "What it means is that the principal teacher will be more junior than a graduate fresh out of college. The punishment for stepping down is too great. There is no sense of natural justice.They are being punished by being put into the most vulnerable position in schools."
The circular comes at a time when the Department of Education is finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain candidates for primary principalships, according to Mr Cottrell.
Last year alone, the IPPN calculated there were 36 principal posts which received no applicants when they were initially advertised. "There are huge numbers of principals suffering severe stress," Mr Cottrell said. "It's not just the additional workload. 75 per cent of principals are also full-time teachers ... it has become professionally impossible to fulfil the role of teaching principal in primary schools."
A spokesman for the Department of Education said the current system was the fairest way of ensuring that a principal's decision to relinquish his/her post did not impact on other staff.
Mr John Carr of the INTO said he believed the issue was a complex one, involving both principals and teachers. It should also be remembered that the seniority of school staff should not be disimproved by the voluntary action of another member of staff.