“THE person at the front of the classroom is the most important investment in education,” said the Cork president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), John Driscoll, after a recent report found that principals work an additional 600 hours a year outside school time while 90% of primary teachers are struggling with excessive workload.

The INTO recently published its findings after an extensive research project was conducted with over 4,000 teachers and 1,100 school leaders.

Nine out of 10 teachers reported that teaching has become more stressful and demanding in the last five years, while teachers also said they are spending too much time on paperwork with no demonstrable effect on the quality of teaching and learning.

Mr Driscoll said their concerns need to be addressed. 

“I have travelled the length and breadth of the country visiting all kinds of schools. I am always struck by the dedication by all the principals and the class teachers. I would be aware of general feelings of pressure on people. Teachers feel like they are doing a lot of paperwork,” he said.

The Cork City native said by and large teachers and principals enjoy the teaching aspect of their job, but added that it is the “increased” demands from outside bodies that are proving challenging. 

“The challenges come because we have the largest classes in Europe. 

"It is also largely to do with the paperwork and the increased demands that have come in to schools from outside bodies and schools are expected to react.

"The whole middle management of schools is decimated since the economic crash.

“The core of a principal’s job is leading, teaching, and learning in the school. 

"So much of their time, however, is taken up with filling out forms, complying with circulars from the Department of Education, and scrambling for substitute teachers. 

"Another bug bear for principals is if there is any building work to be done in a school, a lot of the admin falls on them,” he added.

With another two months as president of the INTO, Mr Driscoll said he still wants to make inroads on a few targets. 

“It has been an absolute privilege. We have seen an improvement on class size, but we are still the largest class size in Europe. 

"There is also a huge discrepancy in funding between primary and secondary schools. Schools need adequate funding. They shouldn’t be worrying about putting on the heating. We are talking about children, the most precious people in the country.”