Statement by Clive Byrne, Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals on Budget 2018

“Budget 2018 includes many positive elements for our education system. These include increased supports for areas of second level education, which were neglected or reduced during the downturn such as curricular reform. However, increased investment to cover the day-to-day costs of running our secondary schools must now also be prioritised,” according to Mr. Byrne

“Today’s Budget includes a number of key initiatives which will help to future-proof our education system, including the provision of an additional 100 career guidance posts, extra funding for curricular reform and the continued implementation of the Junior Cycle reform and ongoing support for developing school leadership roles within our schools.

However, we now need to build on this progress by addressing other key issues facing our schools such as reducing the pupil-teacher ratios at second level and increased funding to close the gap between State capitation rates and the real costs of running our schools day-to-day,” added Mr. Byrne.

Ends.