Principal pay hikes may not help fill vacancies

PAY increases for primary school principals as a result of recent benchmarking awards will do little to help fill vacancies, it was claimed yesterday.

Although the 3,300 principals of primary schools are among the very few grades of public servants to have been given any increase, the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) said the difference between allowances of 2,500 deputy principals which were also increased is still too little to incentivise promotions.

The pay hikes represent a significant rise in allowances paid to principals on top of their basic teachers’ salary, but the average increase in total income will only be between 1% and 4%.

IPPN director Seán Cottrell said the outcome of benchmarking is that the differential is even worse in some cases.

“Deputy principals of larger schools continue to be paid more than principals in three-out-of-four schools, which is profoundly unjust and one of the main reasons why there is a severe shortage of applicants for principalship,” he said.

“In most countries, the natural progression is that a deputy principal becomes a principal but there is no incentive here because of the pay structure. We know of around 20 schools where the principal’s job has had to be advertised at least twice because there is nothing to attract people,” he said.

Previous research shows there are fewer than three applications for the average vacancy for primary school principal, compared to six per job a decade ago.

“Of all the public service managerial grades examined in benchmarking, a school principal is the only one which is based on allowance rather than a separate salary scale,” he said.

The issue will be discussed at the IPPN’s annual conference from today. Also being considered is the absence of an updated contract for principals, whose job description has not been changed since 1973.

More than 800 principals and deputy principals will attend the Killarney conference, where President Mary McAleese will be speaking this afternoon along with Catholic Primate, Cardinal Seán Brady. The role of the Catholic Church in primary education has come under increased focus recently, as the need for a more diverse provision of schools grows in response to the country’s changing demographics.