Growing bureaucracy and an increase in the demands placed on primary school principals has left three quarters of them overworked, a major new survey has revealed.
Being overworked can damage their family life and lead to stress, ill-health, anxiety and exhaustion, with several principals indicating they would "hand back the keys in the morning" if they could.
The survey of 850 principals and deputy principals also found that nearly half do not have an office, while four in 10 have either part-time or no secretarial support.
The research, the first of its kind to be undertaken here, was conducted by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) in advance of its annual conference, which starts in Dublin later today.
According to the IPPN, the role of the primary principal has become so difficult to fill that the the number of applicants per vacancy has fallen from around five to one in 1996 to just under three to one last year.
A quarter of respondents said their workload was either acceptable (1 per cent) or very busy but manageable (24 per cent), but the remainder (75 per cent) said they feel either overloaded or seriously overloaded.
Among the reasons for this are the time they have to devote to non-educational tasks, increased paperwork, unplanned interruptions, and the "major burden" of managing special educational needs in schools.
Many also cited the lack of support from their board of management and/or school management team, and the existence of a "litigation culture."
According to the IPPN, the overwhelming majority of principals stated that additional resources and release days would alleviate most of the problems.
Irrespective of the size or type of school, it said they share a need for adequate cover and support to enable them to devote their time to educational management.
In smaller schools in particular, the principal frequently has to become a "jack of all trades", just to deal with basic tasks such as unblocking toilets and answering calls from parents.