Secondary school principals say they're spending almost half their working week doing admin.
The National Association of Principals and Deputies say that leaves less than one-third of their time to focus on curriculum, leadership, planning or interacting with students.
The NAPD is calling on Education Minister Norma Foley to consider hiring Administrative Officers in all post-primary schools.
The Association's Paul Crone says the core purpose of the school principal is being diminished.
"Principals are being dragged away from the core purpose into administritive tasks, such as managing ageing buildings, such as procurerment, finance.
"All of those issues are keeping them in their office and preventing them from having a positive impact on the student experience."
