16th Nov 2022: School leaders are managing a crisis in staffing, lack of resources and supports for children’s mental health and special educational needs
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) hosts its annual principals’ conference at the INEC in Killarney this week. 1,000 primary principals have gathered for their first face-to-face conference in almost three years. The theme of the event is ‘REAL: Reflective, Empowered, Authentic Leadership’. Keynote speakers include Minister for Education Norma Foley, former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin, Chanelle, Lady McCoy, Director of the Centre for School Leadership Mary Nihill and CEO of the National Council for Curriculum & Development Arlene Forster.
Opening the event, IPPN CEO Páiric Clerkin paid tribute to the 'authentic, compassionate and resilient leadership' shown by primary principals over the past few years. Referring to a number tragedies in school communities, including Creeslough, the Ashling Murphy case in Tullamore, and the many schools supporting 8,000 primary-age children and their families fleeing the atrocities in Ukraine, he commented that principals 'continue to support those distraught communities as they endeavour to navigate their way through times of incredible sadness. Once again, the primary school principals of Ireland have risen to the challenge of leading our schools under extremely difficult circumstances, always putting the needs of the children in your care above all else'.
Primary school representative bodies raise concerns regarding support allocations for children with additional needs
Primary school management bodies Educate Together, An Foras Pátrúnachta, National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education (NABMSE) and the Muslim Primary Education Board, supported by the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) are today issuing a joint statement regarding teaching supports for children with additional needs in Irish schools.
The representative bodies note the publication last week of the Department of Education's staffing schedule for primary schools for the 2021/22 school year and information provided to schools regarding their Special Education Teacher (SET) allocation. In particular, they note that the Department intends to maintain the existing Special Education Teacher allocations for all schools for the 2021/22 school year and will not now conduct a re-profiling exercise in 2021 as was originally planned.
Budget 2021 – IPPN calls for urgent clarification
IPPN welcomes the reduction in the pupil:teacher ratio to 25:1 announced in Budget 2021 yesterday. We acknowledge the positive impact this will have in all schools and also welcome the additional funding to support pupils with special educational needs, both in terms of additional teacher and SNA posts and the additional therapists and psychologists, which are all badly needed in our schools.
IPPN President Damian White statement: School leaders need support from inspectors, not more checklists
Wednesday 16th September 2020
It is not unreasonable for there to be checks to ensure that schools are operating in accordance with public health guidelines to protect all members of the school community. As employers, the Board has a duty of care to its employees and its pupils to provide a safe environment in which to work and learn. However, the move to have the primary inspectorate organise inspections of schools on behalf of the HSA is ill-judged and poorly timed, not to mention an insult to school leaders, teachers and Boards of Management. It utterly compromises the advisory and support role the inspectorate claimed to embrace before this was ever experienced by a school.
Since March 12th, when schools were forced to close their doors and school leaders had to lead learning using new and innovative ways of supporting their pupils through various online platforms, school leaders have not had a break. Before Covid-19, the burgeoning workload of principals meant that they were lucky if they managed any sort of break in the middle of the summer holidays. This summer, the vast majority of principals had no break at all, with many working 50/60-hour weeks, or more, to make sure their schools were ready to resume, with all measures in place to ensure the safety of all children and staff.
