Primary principals are overworked and underpaid

MULTI-SKILLED principals of large primary schools receive about €5,000 less than their second level counterparts, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) annual congress heard yesterday.

The union has been strongly mandated to address pay imbalances and the growing workload faced by the heads of all 3,300 primary schools.

The varied role of the principal was highlighted by INTO education committee member Alice O’Connell, a teacher in Cobh, Co Cork who had been browsing the Irish Examiner recently for principals’ jobs.