IRELAND STANDS AT an important moment in education. The Department of Education and Youth is introducing new curricula at both primary and post-primary levels, promising a more relevant, engaging and future-focused learning experience for our children.

It is an ambitious and welcome reform agenda, but there is one uncomfortable truth that cannot be ignored: no curriculum, however well-designed, can succeed without the leadership needed to bring it to life. At the heart of any school improvement reform is the school principal – the príomhoide – traditionally understood as the head-teacher in a school. But what happens to leading teaching and learning when the príomhoide is already stretched beyond capacity with the existing workload?

Curriculum reform does not happen just because new documents are published, and new policies are announced; rather, school principals create the conditions that allow teachers to embrace change, develop new approaches to teaching and learning, and build a shared vision for curriculum enactment across their school. Ireland’s principals are willing and more than capable of delivering on this agenda, yet the evidence suggests they simply don’t have time to do so.

Our study released today from the DCU Centre for Collaborative Research Across Teacher Education (CREATE) focused on the occupational wellbeing of over 900 primary and second-level school principals. It paints a rather stark picture. Nearly one in 10 principals reported working an average of over 65 hours per week, and almost all cited workload as a key factor in poor occupational health and wellbeing.

Worryingly, the overwhelming majority........

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