Leadership+ Issue 109 May 2019

ISSUE 109 / MAY 2019

+ Leadership THE PROFESSIONAL VOICE OF SCHOOL LEADERS

Time for

Reflection

IPPN SUMMER SCHOOL 2019

EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP - BLENDED SUMMER COURSE IPPN, in conjunction with ATECI, offers a summer course designed by school leaders for school leaders.

It is a ‘blended’ course – a mix of online and face-toface professional development. It will provide you the opportunity to share and discuss different aspects of your leadership role, as well as improved personal and professional self-care.

Locations: n Blackrock Education Centre n

Clare Education Centre

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Cork Education Centre

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Mayo Education Centre

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Navan Education Centre

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Waterford Teachers Centre

Who should participate? n School Leaders (Both Principal & Deputy)

Registration: n Course Registration is now open.

Registration fee is €95

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Modules include: n Quality Framework – School Self Evaluation n

Leadership & Management

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Communication & HR Management

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Time Management

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Child Protection

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Policies in Schools

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Stress Awareness & Self-care

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Having Difficult Conversations

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Developing Personal Leadership

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Date of Course: July 1st to July 5th

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Online Learning: Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd July (online content will be available until July 14th)

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Face to Face: Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th July in 6 Education Centres

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Online booking and full details available on ww.ippn.ie

Aspiring School Leaders

Course includes: n 8 hours of online learning followed by 12 hours face-to-face n

Seminar whole-group presentation followed by discussion groups and sharing/feedback

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Practical planning sessions including scenarios/case studies and reflective practice

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Role play on communication and conflict resolution

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Sharing best practice / peer-to-peer learning

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Discussion groups

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Jennifer McCarthy, Course Administrator • jennifer.mccarthy@ippn.ie

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THE PROFESSIONAL VOICE OF SCHOOL LEADERS

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Legal Diary

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Orla O’Shea from Knockavilla NS, Innishannon, Cork talks about her life as a Principal and Naval Officer.

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Reflections from Inspection

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Child Protection in Initial Teacher Education Maria Doyle on how IPPN are helping to support Marino Institute of Education ITE students in deepening their understanding of the critical area of child protection.

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Sustainable Leadership

Dr Harold Hislop discusses his second Chief Inspector’s Report, published in 2018, drawing on inspection data gathered over the period January 2013 to July 2016.

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Dr Éadaoin McGovern discusses how to achieve sustainable leadership in Irish primary schools.

Team Coaching

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David Ruddy discusses the implications of taking photos at school events.

Principal in Profile

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+ Leadership

Caroline Quinn on how coaching and mentoring can have positive impacts on the culutre of a school.

Irish Primary Principals’ Network, Glounthaune, Co. Cork • 1890 21 22 23 • www.ippn.ie Editor: Geraldine D’Arcy Editorial Team: Geraldine D’Arcy, Páiric Clerkin and David Ruddy n Comments to: editor@ippn.ie n Advertising: Sinéad Coakley sinead.coakley@ippn.ie n ISSN: 1649-5888 n Design: Brosna Press n n

The opinions expressed in Leadership+ do not necessarily reflect the official policy or views of IPPN

Signposts ISSUE 109 / MAY 2019

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PRINCIPAL IN PROFILE

FROM NAVAL OFFICER to PRINCIPAL

ORLA O’SHEA PRINCIPAL OF KNOCKAVILLA NS, INNISHANNON, CORK AND NAVAL OFFICER My naval career started off on an April evening in Collins Barracks, Cork enlisting in the then ‘An Slua Muirí’ (now the Irish Naval Service Reserves) after a slight notion that I wanted a taste of military life.

The NSR supplements our full-time counterparts on the eight Naval Ships as well as harbour surveillance in the four main ports in Ireland, Cork, Dublin, Waterford and Limerick.

Furthermore, we participate in ceremonials such as marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

My naval life has paralleled and complimented both my teaching and principal career in more ways than one. While studying in Mary Immaculate, I continued to advance my navy career through patrols on the LE Emer, Aoife, Aisling & Roisín as well as attending training in the Limerick Unit. Being part of a ship’s crew miles and miles into the Atlantic Ocean undertaking fisheries patrols developed my team work capabilities in often challenging circumstances.

After graduating with my Bachelor of Education in 2006, I successfully completed the Potential NCO’s course. This course trains you to become an instructor, to develop your leadership capabilities and embrace responsibility. Over the past number of years, I have continued to balance my commitment to the NSR with my professional career. I have completed numerous courses in the National Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy, including Personal Survival Techniques and a Certificate in Fire Fighting, which has been invaluable to me in terms of maintaining high health and safety standards in my school. While studying for my MA in Management and Leadership in WIT, I was being put through my paces on the rigorous Potential Officers Course. Physical Leadership Exercises on the River Suir and the Comeragh Mountains tested our endurance and commitment.

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This course culminated in my Commissioning by the then Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney in November 2015, in the Naval Base in Haulbowline, the highlight of my naval career, made even more special as my class were invited to the spectacle.

Only a few months previous, I was appointed to the Principal position in Knockavilla NS. I am now serving as Training Officer of the Cork Unit and the key leadership and management skills of organisation, communicating and delegating are being developed in both roles.

Similar to the distributed model of leadership currently being developed in schools, I strive to and encourage the instructors in the unit to develop their own leadership capabilities during exercises on RIBS in Cork Harbour and mentor them in class taking. We are currently planning a recruitment campaign, planning visits to secondary schools in Cork’s Lower Harbour Region to educate pupils on

the role of the NSR and its importance.

Most recently, I have completed the Physical Trainer Leadership courses in the Defence Forces Training Centre in the Curragh Camp. I am in charge of maintaining high levels of fitness in our unit. Fitness is a vital component of a soldier’s ability to react to demanding physical situations.

This parallels with my passion for teaching PE and training our school’s hurling and football teams and instilling in our pupils the necessity for healthy and active lives. The two things that I love most about the Defence Forces are the comradery and the inclusive nature of the organisation. It invites people from all walks of life. In our own unit we have electricians, architects, solicitors and engineers. The diverse skills set evident in each of the four units leads to a stronger team work ethic.

As our school motto goes: ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’.

Time for Reflection As we approach the end of this academic year, we would like to reflect on events of the last year.

Workload is not going away anytime soon. However, the Calendar of Reform proposal as espoused by IPPN at our 2015 conference has not gone unnoticed. The DES have constituted the Primary Education Forum which is chaired by Assistant Secretary General, Alan Wall. IPPN attends these meetings with our education partners.

The Minister, Joe McHugh TD has also attended one of the meetings. There is a real unity of purpose shared by all that real tangible results are necessary in order for the pacing of reform and change. The pause in the introduction of the new Maths Curriculum and the deferral of the commencement of the Education (Admissions to Schools Act) 2018 are just two examples of progress.

The request that all education partners and agencies supply the Centre for School Leadership with a calendar of events and initiatives will help ensure that there is no unnecessary duplication and will help with sequencing.

A symposium on small schools will take place in June and hopefully this will address the challenges experienced by our colleagues who have fulltime teaching duties alongside their leadership remit. There was a small increase in leadership and management days this year for our small school leaders. Our colleagues who work in one-teacher schools will no longer have to work on their own and will have enhanced ancillary support. Posts of responsibility that might have been lost to schools through retirements were replaced this year. Equally we need to use existing mechanisms like SSE and SIPs to regulate and pace initiative change in our schools. The IPPN PIEW (Pilot-Implement-EmbedWait) Model and related toolkit, which we will launch early in the next school year, is one such mechanism that can help achieve more balance.

PÁIRIC CLERKIN AND DAVID RUDDY We are under no illusion that whilst progress has been modest in relation to workload, the DES understands and takes seriously the challenges that you face. Patience and persistence will be required to further advance our concerns. Our top two priorities of one management and leadership day per week and the restoration of more AP1 and AP2 posts remain.

EDITORIAL

the past year in relation to leadership development, particularly through the Centre for School Leadership – in partnership with IPPN, NAPD and the DES – in relation to one-to-one and team coaching, mentoring of new principals, the postgraduate diploma in school leadership, the shared calendar and leadership clusters. The positive engagement by hundreds of serving and aspiring school leaders in these lifelong learning programmes will bear fruit for primary education in the years to come.

We hope that the hectic nature of these few remaining weeks will be tempered by the prospect of the holidays.

Is sinne le meas

It would be remiss not to mention the tremendous strides made over

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DAVID RUDDY BL IPPN PRESIDENT

TAKING PHOTOS AT SCHOOL EVENTS Where common sense comes into play The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) often receives queries from schools, parents and even photographers about taking photographs at school events. These events range from concerts and football matches, right up to sports days, holy communions, and award ceremonies.

Common questions ensue such as “Do you need the consent of a child’s guardian before you can take a photo of a child?”, “Do you need consent for each separate school event?”, “Can schools ban parents from taking photos at school events?”, and “Can people take photos of other people’s children without the guardian’s permission?”

The phrase “Because of GDPR” is also trending of late, and this context appears to be no different when we hear things such as schools saying “We can publish a photo of a student but we can’t name them because of GDPR” or parents saying “I can’t take a photo of my child in the nativity play because of GDPR”, highlighting the real sense of confusion surrounding this issue.

BACK TO BASICS There is nothing under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) prohibiting people from taking photos 4

in a public place. Provided you’re not harassing anyone, taking photographs of people in public is generally allowed.

However, whether you can publish a photograph to a broad-based audience is a different question. In other words, taking a photo in public is generally fine; it’s what you do with that photo that can potentially become a data protection issue.

You’ll notice the repeated reference to the word “public” above – this is an important factor to take into consideration in a school event context. The rules of engagement for taking photos at a school nativity play put on specifically for friends and family are likely to differ to those applied at a ticketed school musical open to the public.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS TAKING PHOTOS AT SCHOOL EVENTS School plays, rugby matches, Christmas carol concerts – all important milestones that parents, family and friends understandably want to record on camera. But questions such as “Is it OK if you capture the image of another child while snapping pictures of your own?” surface time and time

again, leaving parents, and indeed schools, at a bit of a loss as to what to do. A lot of the time, families taking photos at these kinds of events are simply doing so for reminiscence’s sake and they don’t intend to post or publish the photos anywhere. This type of activity falls under the socalled “household exemption” under the GDPR, which provides that the GDPR does not apply when a person processes personal data (for example, a photograph of someone) in the course of a purely personal or household activity, e.g. with no connection to a professional, business, official or commercial activity.

That being said, the ubiquitous nature of social media means that many photos like these will inevitably wind up on some proud parent’s Instagram account. And in fact, the GDPR doesn’t strictly prohibit this either, with Recital 18 stating that personal or household activities could include social networking. However, if a parent published a photo of their child online that also contained images of other children, and the parent of one of the other children was uncomfortable with this and asked the parent to

LEGAL DIARY

take the photo down, common sense and indeed common courtesy would suggest that you should take the photo down.

In an effort to maintain a sense of control over the situation, some schools are implementing an outright ban on the taking of photographs by parents/family at school events.

While it is at the discretion of schools to create their own policies on these matters for closed school events, it may be rather difficult to enforce an outright ban – in the name of data protection – on taking photos at, for example, the school’s production of Grease the Musical, which members of the public can also attend.

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AT SCHOOL EVENTS Schools often take photographs or hire photographers to attend schoolrelated events to capture important occasions, for example the opening of a new science lab, a school orchestra’s annual concert, or the final of a football tournament, with these images winding up on the school’s website, in the local newspaper, or in the school’s monthly newsletter. It’s important to note that in this context, schools are in a very different position to parents/ family/friends in that they cannot rely on the household exemption. They are acting as ‘data controllers’, which brings them into the sphere of the GDPR and all of the rules that come with it, for example they must have a legal basis to process the personal data (e.g. take and store photos) and they must provide clear and concise information about what it is that they are doing with this personal data, how long they will be keeping it for etc.

The DPC recently heard an anecdote about a school that provided a newspaper with a photograph of two students who had won a prize in a national competition, but claimed they couldn’t provide the newspaper with the names of these students ‘because of GDPR’. Processing personal data includes a multitude of activities such as taking photographs of students, publishing these photos somewhere, and naming students in publications.

So if the school in this scenario had a valid legal basis for publishing photographs of their students in the first place (for example the school had obtained the consent of the parents of the students), it’s unlikely that they were not in a position to name the students too.

If a school has identified that consent is the appropriate legal basis for taking and publishing photographs in a particular context, they will generally need to obtain the consent of the child’s parent or guardian to do so, depending on the age of the child. The threshold for consent is strengthened under the GDPR and requires that the consent be ‘freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous’. It must also be possible for the parent or guardian to withdraw their consent at any time, bearing in mind, however, that withdrawal of consent doesn’t affect the previous use of any photos taken of that particular child before the consent was withdrawn.

If a school is requesting consent from a parent or guardian to photograph their child at school events, it is vital that the school provide a clear and accurate account of the context in which these photos are going to be taken, for example the types of school events that photographs will be taken at, what these photos are going to be used for and by whom, where these photos are going to appear and how long they will be kept for. It’s also important that parents/guardians are aware that they have a right to withdraw their consent at any time to the future use of such photos.

Schools may find it easier to request this consent from parents/guardians at the beginning of each school term or year so that the consent can clearly cover specific activities throughout the course of the school term/year.

However, in the event that the nature and context in which photographs are taken fundamentally changes, for example the photos are going to be taken at an event that parents wouldn’t expect them to be taken, or they are going to be posted or published somewhere unexpected, then schools should, once again, seek consent from parents or guardians.

PHOTOGRAPHING LARGE GROUPS Getting consent to take and publish photographs of large groups of people can be challenging, for example, what do you do if one or two individuals in the group do not give their consent?

Take the scenario whereby a school wants to take and publish photos at a sports day – schools could inform parents in advance that photographs are going to be taken at this event and could provide different-coloured stickers for the children to wear to

signify whether or not they can be photographed.

IS CONSENT KING? Consent is not the only legal basis for processing personal data – and there may be instances where schools may be in a position to rely on legitimate interest as their legal basis for taking photographs. It’s important to note that where a school, or any other data controller, is relying on the ‘legitimate interests’ legal basis, this requires a balancing exercise to make sure that the rights and interests of an individual, especially where the individual is a child, are taken into account and aren’t unfairly disregarded. For example, where photos are being taken of school facilities for a school prospectus and a very large number of children collectively appear in the background of these various photos, then it’s reasonable that the school should be able to publish such photographs for these purposes, relying on the legitimate interests legal basis – in other words, without having to obtain consent in respect of each child whose image may have been distantly captured in the photo.

But if such a photo captured only one or two children who were clearly identifiable in, say, a playground setting, rather than a crowd scene with a large number of children in the same setting, then consent would be a more appropriate legal basis to publish the former photo, while it would seem reasonable for the school to rely on legitimate interests for the latter. In any event, schools, like all data controllers, should be able to demonstrate their assessment of data protection issues and be able to point to why they have identified a particular legal basis as being most appropriate to a particular scenario where photos are being taken and published.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS… We live in a world where every owner of a smartphone is a potential photographer. The GDPR does not provide an exact roadmap on when it’s permissible to take and publish photographs in the context of school events. However, a balanced, common sense approach will go a long way towards ensuring that individuals’ rights are respected, while also ensuring that data protection doesn’t become an obstacle to capturing and celebrating significant school events.

(Source Blog published by the DPC on April 19th 2019) 5

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Sustainable leadership:

A model for growth and development in Irish Primary Schools

DR ÉADAOIN McGOVERN DIRECTOR OF NAVAN EDUCATION CENTRE Sustainable leadership, a concept that has long been advocated and developed in many fields of practice, has only recently gained sway in the educational field. The pillars upon which sustainable leadership practices rest, according to key authors in the field, have been features of educational discourse for a number of decades and are described as: ■■ Depth - deep learning for all through instructional leadership practices ■■ Breadth - authentic distribution of leadership responsibility ■■ Length - long term leadership development and support.

Leadership in education has become a central focus in Ireland in recent years and leadership training and supports have been developed in response to a new drive for excellence in schools.

A national study of the fundamental principles of sustainable leadership in education, completed in 2015, confirms that, in the Irish primary school context, the relentless pace of change and reform has led to enduring conditions which inhibit leadership capacity. Newly-appointed primary school principals (NAPs) report that a lack of training and preparation, poor handovers and a sense of isolation add further to the overloaded role of the principal in Irish primary schools. The study concludes that the foundational principles of sustainable leadership leading learning, distributing leadership and leadership succession planning are undermined by a combination of organisational and systemic constraints.

Leadership in education has become a central focus in Ireland in recent 6

years and leadership training and supports have been developed in response to a new drive for excellence in schools. Sustainable leadership deviates from traditional leaderfollower norms by campaigning for a team leadership approach to learning and improvement. It is a positive and future facing approach to leadership, which is underscored by the premise that leadership is the responsibility of all who are engaged in the business of improved learning in schools.

The Depth principle proposes that learning is accepted as the central moral purpose in schools. Deep learning for all is the baseline of this principle. Teachers and school leaders who continuously expand their own learning, in service to student learning, are witnessed as lead learners in their schools.

The Breadth principle highlights that through mutual collaboration, a distributed model of school leadership may be exercised in schools.

Authentic leadership distribution supports the work of principals in schools by utilising shared knowledge and skills to address focussed priority needs.

The final principle, Length, is achieved through structured support and the development of leadership talent at all stages of a career in teaching - from undergraduate leadership training, to in-service professional learning and leadership development.

Long-term succession planning forms the basis of this strand of the model.

The wider literature confirms that while the teacher is the most significant influence on the learning that occurs in schools, the principal is the central agent in promoting teacher agency and talent. Although the sustainable leadership framework moves away from traditional ‘heroic’ styles of

principalship, it positions the school principal as the key broker in fostering a culture of partnered leadership in their schools. Encouraging a shared commitment to identify priority needs moves leadership distribution beyond delegation. While delegation can undoubtedly serve a purpose in any organisation, delegation without collaborative engagement can preserve leader-follower cultures and delimit talent.

Principals as lead learners engage and motivate others by identifying, nurturing and harnessing talents, in service to student learning and school improvement.

Sustainable leadership presents school principals as selfless leaders, who position themselves as the lead learners within their organisations.

These principals are visible as lifelong learners, learning from and with others in their school communities.

Principals as lead learners engage and motivate others by identifying, nurturing and harnessing talents, in service to student learning and school improvement. By forging the way for open leadership for learning cultures, principals also play an active part in the development of long-term leaders and future principals.

See ippn.ie for access to the national study cited in this article, ‘From Aspiration to Succession and Transition. An exploratory study of Sustainable Leadership in Irish Primary Schools’.

If you would like to contact Éadaoin about this article, you can email her to director@ecnavan.ie.

LINK TO STUDY

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OnYourBehalf

Highlighted below are a few examples of IPPN’s advocacy and representative work on behalf of principals and deputy principals, through meetings, events and submissions, since the last issue of Leadership+:

SUBMISSIONS The DES has established an expert Working Group to develop guidelines to assist schools in managing crisis situations. IPPN responded to Minister McHugh’s invitation to contribute our ‘views on the use of physical intervention in the prevention and management of crisis student behaviour in schools’, as was offered to all stakeholders via an online survey.

To ensure that the views and concerns of school leaders are adequately captured by the process, IPPN decided to make a formal submission outside of the online survey, which was very specific and also very limited in its scope.

IPPN raised this issue with the Department and the Inspectorate back in 2015, requesting that national policy and guidelines be developed.

Indeed, with significant input from principals of special schools who manage crisis situations on a daily basis, we submitted a sample policy and an outline of what such guidelines would need to cover, and we were informed that this matter had been forwarded to the Attorney General for his views. We very much welcome the establishment of the Working Group and look forward to engaging with the Group to progress this very important issue for school leaders.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee invited a submission from IPPN on Thursday 11th April to be completed by 30th April, effectively spanning the Easter school break period. We have expressed our concern via the JOC Secretariat at the number of such requests made at short notice. If the JOC is serious about its work and wishes stakeholders to make evidencebased submissions, significantly more notice is required about the subjects the Committee is working on in a given time period. Only then can IPPN and other stakeholders seek to engage with members to gather relevant inputs and put forward workable recommendations and solutions.

PRIMARY EDUCATION FORUM The Forum has met twice since the last issue of Leadership+. The meeting on 6th February was chaired by Alan Wall of the DES and attended by IPPN, 8

INTO and management bodies. Topics discussed were Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections and the DES Action Plan 2019, with a focus on primary education actions.

Issues raised at the previous meeting resulted in a revised timeframe for the introduction of the new Primary Maths Curriculum and adjustments to the timeframe and approach to commencement of the remaining sections of Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018.

Harold Hislop, Chief Inspector, gave a presentation on the Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections (CPSIs).

He outlined the relationship between the CPSIs and the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and PostPrimary Schools 2017; the pilot inspection model which was trialled during 2018; training provided; funding for training for Boards of Management and a commitment to review the model in February 2020 following a full year of implementation.

Items raised included the requirement for two reports (Initial and Final Inspections); confidential nature of risk assessments; issues with drawdown procedures for funding; training; notice periods and timing of review of the model.

The meeting on 18th April focused on the Department and its agencies’ approach to consultation with external stakeholders, as well as the identification of key issues for future discussion at the Forum. In relation to the consultation process, IPPN raised the concern that the consultation process undertaken by the Department and its agencies when drafting policy or legislation could sometimes be considered as a box-ticking exercise.

The DES has undertaken to consider this feedback and will pass it onto its agencies. The next meeting will be held in September.

IPPN DEPUTY PRINCIPALS’ SEMINARS To bridge the gap until the deputy principals’ annual conference which has been moved to November (7th and 8th in Citywest), IPPN hosted three seminars for deputy principals

- in Portlaoise, Cork and Dublin in April and May. Jacinta Kitt explored how shared leadership can create a positive school environment in which the staff can work and the pupils can achieve their best. Feedback on the seminars was excellent.

AN CHOMHAIRLE UM OIDEACHAS GAELTACHTA AGUS GAELSCOLAÍOCHTA (COGG) Former IPPN President and Associate Director Virginia O’Mahony represents IPPN on the COGG. It is effectively an advisory group to a new section within the DES, which is headed up by senior inspector Treasa Kirk, and which is tasked with the development of new policy in relation to primary and post-primary education in Gaeltacht schools, i.e. Aonad um Oideachas Gaeltachta.

NCCA Pat Connaghan, former IPPN Board member and retired principal of St. Columba’s NS, Acres, Donegal, was co-opted to the NCCA’s Board for Early Childhood and Primary in April 2018. See Pat’s report on page 17 in relation to the work of the Council, in particular the consultation around the redevelopment of the primary curriculum.

TEACHING PRINCIPALS CLUSTERS IPPN arranged meetings in April and May in five education centres (Cork, West Cork, Wexford, Limerick and Galway) with those principals who expressed an interest in forming clusters for the purposes of leadership and management days and where there was sufficient interest in each education centre. The idea is to facilitate discussion among teaching principals with a view to creating a full-time teaching post shared among the principals in the cluster. Multiple posts can be facilitated within the same cluster, depending on the number of principals and the amount of days available to form a full-time post. Please refer to the guidance on page 13 of the April edition of In Touch re. the forming of such clusters.

Note: applications for such posts must be with the DES by 30th June.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT CLUSTERS The IPPN survey yielded 92 declarations of interest in these clusters. We have sent a link to these schools to an online PDST survey which will determine their likely needs e.g. infrastructure, equipment, etc. Once this additional information has been collated, the plan is to identify likely cluster groups for these schools with a view to organising information meetings at the relevant education centres. A number of IT companies have been identified as possible Tech Support providers for the clusters.

INTO David Ruddy and Páiric Clerkin met with General Secretary Designate John Boyle, vice president Feargal Brougham and Assistant General Secretary Deirdre O’Connor on 9th April. Among the topics discussed were: ■■ Clusters for teaching principals’ leadership and management days. IPPN facilitated meetings of interested parties in the education centres in Cork, West Cork, Limerick, Wexford/Carlow and Galway. INTO has facilitated meetings in other areas.

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Primary Education Forum – preparation for the April meeting.

Leadership issues, including leadership and management days for teaching principals; reinstatement of all AP posts lost through retirement; and the principals’ benchmarking award Events and summer courses for school leaders.

DIGITAL SCHOOLS OF DISTINCTION IPPN is represented by Peter Coakley on the Digital Schools of Distinction (DSoD) Steering Committee. There have been five meetings of the DSoD since January. The two most recent meetings have focused on the recommendations of the fiveyear evaluation report on the DSoD, including a re-framing of the validation criteria, to incorporate the Digital Learning Framework.

session for them. If there is sufficient interest, we can look at hosting a mailing list or similar peer-to-peer support.

SCHOOL VISITS David Ruddy continued his visits to member schools, and met with Olive Walsh – principal of Glasnevin NS, Botanic Avenue, Dublin. These visits help to deepen IPPN’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in school leadership, as well as surfacing ideas for the future.

He also visited the schools of the following National Council members: ■■ Bryan Collins, Louth and principal of Scoil Naomh Feichin, Termonfeckin; ■■

■■

FOUNDING PRINCIPALS MEETING Páiric and David met with Rory Kinane, principal of Greystones Community NS, to discuss his proposals in relation to supporting newly-appointed principals of start-up schools. We plan to contact as many of these principals as possible, with a view to hosting an initial CPD

David Ruddy with Olive Walsh, Principal, Glasnevin NS,

John Williams, Dublin, and principal of Divine Word, Marley Grange, Rathfarnham; Martin Moloney, Clare, and principal of Clarecastle NS.

NCSE, INTO & NAMBSE RE. SPECIAL SCHOOLS IPPN met with Mary Byrne and Teresa Griffin of the NCSE at IPPN Support Office to discuss the IPPN membership engagement project

David with Bryan Collins,Co Louth, National Council Member

The Ink Bottle, Botanic Avenue, Dublin

Carol Burke Heneghan, IPPN National Council Dublin

John Williams, National Council Member Dublin

and Siobhan McKiernan, DP Scoil Mhuire, Clondalkin Village

and DP Caitriona Ni Threasaigh

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OnYourBehalf for Special Schools. This included a detailed presentation and discussions on the recent Special Schools survey findings. We also met separately with representatives of the INTO and of NAMBSE to present the same information.

NTRIS (NATIONAL TRAVELLER AND ROMA INCLUSION STRATEGY) PILOT PROJECT STEERING GROUP The pilot project is looking at how to achieve better outcomes with more intensive supports. IPPN is on the steering group of the NTRIS project which is looking at this, represented

by David Ruddy.

DES CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF EDUCATION POLICY WITHIN THE AREAS OF SOCIAL INCLUSION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION In this session, the Department outlined the overall approach to inclusion and special education – seeking to advance the progress of learners at risk of educational disadvantage and learners with special educational needs in order to support them to achieve their potential. The approach is to form an inclusive, needs-based education system that is responsive, equitable and outcome-focused.

TEACHING COUNCIL CONSULTATIVE FORUM ON DROICHEAD This briefing session took place in Marino Institute of Education and outlined the research project commissioned to explore schools’ lived experiences of the Droichead process.

MIE and Trinity College Dublin won the tender to conduct the research and will survey schools participating in Droichead. Teacher training colleges and other stakeholders are very interested in the findings. The research will inform the review of Droichead that has been promised. IPPN will be alerted to the details when the research commences.

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION The NCSE held a symposium on ‘The Canadian system and the journey to full inclusion- presentations by delegates from Canada’. It was interesting to note that the New Brunswick province have moved to a system where there are 10

continued…

no Special Classes or Special Schools - every pupil goes to their local school and the supports then go into each school.

SCHOOL AGE CHILDCARE 2019 The Dept. of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) has a working group called ‘The Standards Working Group’ which developed draft National Quality Standards for centre based SAC services (2018). This document comprised of principles, standards, components, elements and further useful information. It was envisaged that this document would be published and services could work towards these standards during which time regulations would be developed. Pat Goff represents IPPN on this working group.

OTHER MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES ATTENDED OR HOSTED March ■■ NTRIS Pilot National Steering Group - National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2017 – 2021 ■■ Child Protection Seminars – Maria Doyle presented to four student groups at MIE ■■ Launch of Cumasú Empowering through Learning Action Plan for Education 2019 ■■ IPPN Board of Directors and National Council meetings in Portlaoise ■■ PDST Tánaiste event, Athlone ■■ NCSE Council meeting. IPPN Deputy CEO Pat Goff is the Minister’s nominee and attended the meeting ■■ CSL Professional Learning Day, Athlone ■■ CSL Group Mentoring meeting, Athlone ■■ ESHA General Assembly ■■ DES Athlone - Revised Governance Manual for 2019-2023 ■■ CSL Steering Group meeting, Maynooth University ■■ Irish Learning Support Association - Spring Conference ■■ Launch of Mary Immaculate College Strategic Plan 2023 ■■ David Ruddy gave a talk to final year B. Ed and PMG students in Marino Institute of Education in relation to duty of care/child protection and answered questions

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on the interview process. Claire O’Donovan also presented in relation to EducationPosts.ie.

CPSMA AGM Conference Dinner.

April TeacTeaching Council Consultative forum to explore schools’ lived experiences of the Droichead process - MIE Consultative Forum with Minister McHugh at Dundalk IT ■■ IPPN Board of Directors meeting in Portlaoise ■■ National Parents Council re. parental involvement ■■ Wellbeing for Teachers and Learners (WTL) meeting to follow up on recent seminar in Croke Park ■■ CSL review of coaching programme ■■ NAPD Leadership symposium on Transforming Learning ■■ DES consultation on the future direction of education policy within the areas of Social Inclusion and Special Education ■■ INTO re. Leadership and Management Clusters ■■ INTO Annual Congress 2019 ■■ CSL PDSL Monitoring Group.CSL PDSL Monitoring Group.

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May NAPD to discuss potential future collaboration ■■ DES, NAPD and Teaching Council to discuss proposed new system to source substitute teachers ■■ CSL Implementation Group ■■ Children’s Rights Alliance ■■ Education Matters Editorial Board 2019/2020 ■■ CSL Steering Group ■■ Consultative Forum on Teacher Supply ■■ Numeracy Across the Curriculum Initiative briefing ■■ DEIS Advisory Group ■■ Wellbeing for Teachers and Learners Group ■■

Forthcoming Events/Meetings Eversheds Sutherland Education Seminar ■■ NTRIS National Steering Group ■■ NCSE Council Meeting ■■ IPPN Board of Directors and National Council meetings on 13th and 14th June ■■ Proposed DES symposium on small schools ■■ Misneach/Headstart.

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REFLECTIONS

HUMILITY

can be the Best Expedient DAMIAN WHITE PRINCIPAL OF SCOIL SHINCHILL, KILLEIGH, CO. OFFALY AND IPPN DEPUTY PRESIDENT Writing can be a pleasure or a chore, depending on circumstances. With a deadline looming, and other pressing matters, the ‘muse’ can be mulish in its refusal to budge. Location can help though. Sitting in a nice hotel during a mid- term break offers time to reflect and can accelerate the hand towards the keyboard . A glass of ‘Chateau’ can help to add colour, though it can alter perspective. A re-check post vino is always advisable, lest the Minister, Cigire, Bishop or the entire membership of IPPN be offended by some remark which, with the benefit of sobriety and morning light, would be best left in the cutting room. Writing is unusual in that it is the medium through which most people are offended, as information is delivered without the benefit of voice tone, yet is a means of communication which offers you the chance to say your piece as you wish and check it from every perspective before pressing ‘send’.

Communication by writing is always acceptable for good news. When delivering information to a parent about their child’s less than expected level of behaviour, performance or achievement however, writing really shouldn’t be the first contact. Tone is important and a conversation can give a more balanced and fair perspective.

Less than complimentary parental letters about the school’s handling of an issue can cause upset and annoyance to a teacher or principal.

How often have we made up an answer in our heads to put the recalcitrant mammy or daddy back in their box?

How often have we written it into the homework notebook, giving the nervous child, who has handed up the parent’s diatribe in the first place, clear instructions as to whom it should be shown? Hopefully never.

If we need to discuss, defend, explain or contextualize an action from the day before, a phone call or a meeting is always the most productive route. If, on reflection, we haven’t met our own high standards, or the school could

I mentioned at the outset that location can affect your writing. I’m writing over a cuppa in a hotel bar as I await my son’s arrival from a teenage disco next door. It’s not my usual ‘modus operandi’ but the deadline looms. Elsewhere in the hotel, politicians of every hue are crying for a European Parliament seat in a ‘town hall’ type setting. Peter Casey’s impressive BMW, emblazoned with a logo, clearly identifies his target audience. Matt Carthy is overheard discussing the price of land rental with an interested farmer. All parties have the hotel festooned with aficionados, loudly sharing opinions at the bar.

Perhaps they should write their opinions first, to see how they sound.

Perhaps too, they could all take Pat Moore’s advice a little more often.

Like us, they do their very best, but a humble apology occasionally might gain them more traction.

have acted better, the word ‘sorry’ is useful to bring s swift conclusion to proceedings. As a young principal, I had the good fortune to befriend Pat Moore, an experienced and very wise principal from Galway. He would also talk hurling all day, so he was a man you could take seriously. He told our local support group that the most useful word in the principal’s lexicon is ‘sorry’. It’s not to make the principal a doormat, but it gives them a quick route to a conclusion of an issue in danger of taking more than the time or the energy they have to spare. ‘Sorry’ can simply help de-escalate an issue.

‘Sorry if that’s the way you thought I handled the issue’. ‘I’m sorry if you felt I was a little harsh’. Sorry for calling you but I felt I should chat with you in relation to your letter and to give you the whole story.’ Pat is now retired but is still a font of wisdom, much of which he has passed on to his family, many of whom are school leaders themselves.

And allow them, like us, to move onto pressing issues of the day.

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LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

DISTRIBUTING LEADERSHIP IS THE WAY FORWARD Creating and sustaining a school environment that underpins high quality pupil care, learning and teaching

LOUISE TOBIN PRINCIPAL OF ST JOSEPH’S PRIMARY,

TIPPERARY TOWN AND A MEMBER OF THE IPPN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

An initiative that seeks to share the load of the principal and encourages and empowers leaders and would-be leaders in school is very welcome.

The Distributing Leadership model outlined in Circulars 63/2017 and 70/2018 stresses ‘high quality leadership is crucial in establishing a central purpose and vision for a school and the achievement of high quality educational outcomes for pupils. The primary purpose of school leadership and management is to create and sustain an environment that underpins high quality pupil care, learning and teaching. This circular sets out a leadership and management framework for posts in recognised primary schools.’

The introduction and implementation of such an initiative can, however, be a difficult ask depending on the make-up, motivation and inclination of the In-School Management Team, and indeed the disposition of the rest of the staff. In some cases, there may be a view that the principal is seeking to off-load a number of organisational and or curricular areas that up to then were the sole duty of the principal to sort and implement. We must then remember this initiative is derived from a DES directive, requiring immediate implementation.

I myself then pondered on how does a principal empower leaders? How do you inspire staff members - teachers and post-holders who see themselves primarily as class teachers, to now see themselves in a vital leadership and management role, leading learning and teaching?

In many schools, due to history and tradition, the responsibilities and roles of the ISM team take the form of a list of inherited jobs with very little progression or change, despite the changing nature and demands of Irish education. Circulars 62/2017 and 70/2018 offer a new direction

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for existing and future posts of responsibility. This new direction will now be dictated by whole staff agreement on specific areas in which they feel guidance and leadership is needed.

A number of staff meetings may be needed to work out and agree the priority areas of improvement in the school at that point in time, and to discuss some suggestions as to what specific guidance and action is needed in each area. This whole staff discussion is key to agreeing ISM priorities for the coming year.

The areas needing attention are coming directly from staff, giving a strong sense of ownership and common ground, seeking guidance and leadership from the school management team.

How do you inspire staff members - teachers and post-holders who see themselves primarily as class teachers, to now see themselves in a vital leadership and management role, leading learning and teaching?

The Looking at our Schools (LAOS) publication provides a helpful framework to see where exactly the school is at, in terms of delivering standards of practice across the 4 domains –Teaching and Learning, Leadership and Management. While the LAOS document was referenced in our staff discussions, it was of greater benefit afterwards. Arising from staff meetings, we were clear on areas that needed development and hence could identify the corresponding standards underpinning these improvements.

This whole process also formed part of our School Self Evaluation and led to the development of our School Improvement Plan.

Leadership capacity is also developed as the management team lead on topics identified as priority by staff.

Now in our school we have a central purpose and vision for our year’s work. We are on a clearly signposted ‘pathway’ in our school, which will most definitely lead to better educational outcomes for our pupils.

This approach is creating a sustainable environment in our school that underpins high quality pupil care, learning and teaching. This process will become a central part of our school planning and prioritisation going forward. Clearly identified needs will be established, explored and developed by the management team. Distributing Leadership is the way forward.

To summarise, staff meetings to prioritise leadership and management needs lead to priorities shared amongst ISM team, leading to ongoing leadership on priorities and development of same at staff meetings, which in turn leads to Improvements in teaching and learning, and to better outcomes for school leaders!

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Ralph Nader Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.

Bill Bradley

LEADERSHIP SUPPORT

What’s driving

YOU?

ANGELA LYNCH LEADERSHIP SUPPORT PROGRAMME MANAGER

From a very young age, the messages we hear soon become our beliefs and the drivers that motivate us to pursue our goals. The drivers can have many positive attributes but they can also inhibit us in ways that are in no way helpful in terms of our emotional and physical wellbeing. This struck me forcibly after hearing coach and former school leader Viv Grant speak at an event I attended. I began to think of these key drivers, my beliefs around them as they have affected my leadership journey and how selfreflection has changed the way in which I use these beliefs to move me into a more positive and helpful way of being.

These drivers include: 1. Be perfect 2. Please others 3. Be strong 4. Try hard 5. Hurry up.

The belief that I had to be perfect put a huge strain on me in that somehow I always fell short, had difficulty in asking for help, was overly concerned with doing the right thing and always afraid that I would drop a ball and be seen to be found wanting. You might recognize yourself in this space. I have learned to see that there is no such thing as the perfect person or indeed the perfect school. We will strive to be the best we can but, in the words of John Steinbeck, ‘You don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.’

about getting people on board, being the constant servant leader, avoiding conflict and never saying no. In avoiding and not dealing with conflict, the conflict often escalated.

Not only is it all right to say no, but I now believe that it is imperative to do so at times. It is okay to take care of your own needs. Self-care is not a selfish act.

How many times have we said to children (and ourselves) ‘You must try harder?’ This can be a very negative message. Perhaps the issue is that we are trying hard at the wrong things.

Are we trying hard in areas where we don’t have a particular strength?

Someone in the school may have great skill in a particular area that we struggle with and can achieve great results with little stress. Asking that person to take on that particular task can free us up to focus on our own areas of strength. Become aware of your strengths and the strengths of others.

Finally, the belief that we have to hurry up permeates all of the other beliefs, leading us to become overwhelmed, stressed and unable to see the wood from the trees. Taking the time to reflect on our beliefs and drivers, challenging our assumptions when it might seem as if we don’t have the time to do so, could well become less about surviving and more about thriving in our leadership role. You don’t have to go fast. You just have to go!

I’ll repeat a key point - self-care is not a selfish act.

“Anytime we can listen to true self and give it the care it requires, we do so not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.” – Parker J. Palmer

The belief that to be strong is to always be in control, usually calm, not needing to ask anyone for help and knowing all the answers and maybe bottling things up. I certainly have felt this. Being strong now for me is the belief that it is okay to ask for help, as well as being aware of and expressing my emotions.

I have always been a people pleaser.

It led me to believe that it was 13

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Promoting Collaborative Leadership

Reflections from Inspection DR HAROLD HISLOP CHIEF INSPECTOR OF IRISH SCHOOLS In 2018, I published my second Chief Inspector’s Report, drawing on inspection data gathered over the period January 2013 to July 2016. In that time, inspectors had visited more than 2,000 primary schools to carry out a range of inspections, including Whole-School Evaluations (WSE), Incidental Inspections and evaluations of planning in DEIS schools.

The context within which school leaders worked during the 2013-2016 period was difficult in many respects.

The economic recession impacted significantly on the education system.

For example, the reduced levels of capitation grants paid to schools during the crisis had an impact on schools. The moratorium on posts of responsibility meant that the workload of the principal and the deputy principal grew while the number of teachers with paid management responsibilities declined.

While teacher and pupil numbers rose because of demographic factors, there was only a small rise in the pupilteacher ratio over this period.

Despite these and other contextual factors, the quality of educational provision has remained high in the majority of schools. The data reported in the Chief Inspector’s Report (2016) indicated that the quality of learning in schools was good overall, with evidence of very good quality in between 29% and 12% of schools inspected. Overall, we found that management was satisfactory or better in 89%-90% of the schools in which we conducted whole-school type evaluations (either WSE or WSE-MLL).

The challenge noted at the end of the Chief Inspector’s Report in 2013 remains – we have too many instances where aspects of teaching and learning and leadership and management are good rather than very good. However, we have very many of the necessary resources in place to meet that 1 2

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challenge. These include a motivated and professional teaching force, committed school leaders and a quality framework which provides a clear picture of what very good practices in a school look like. Looking At Our School 2016 is built around the two dimensions that directly impact on pupils’ learning outcomes and experiences - teaching and learning, and leadership and management. Building collaborative practice in both these areas of the work of a school provides a mechanism for achieving effective learning for pupils.

Through our annual inspection programme in schools we have opportunities to reflect on professional collaboration as we see it in schools.

Often we report on the role of the school’s principal and senior management in supporting the development of a collaborative culture in their school. This may be through formal practices such as annual meetings to discuss work or by establishing a culture that encourages teachers to use their individual talents and skills to develop school practices.

However, we do find schools where that culture is absent. In these cases, teachers often work in isolation from one another and/or they don’t feel adequately informed, consulted or valued. In these instances, we make recommendations to support these schools in developing greater collaborative practice.

WHAT SCHOOLS CAN DO TO PROMOTE COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE Teachers engage in collaborative practice when they talk with one another about their classes and their pupils. However, this is often informal and very closely focussed on the immediate, for example, on a specific teaching problem. The sharing of information and good practice which results is very positive and informal exchanges like this provide a strong

foundation for the ‘professional collaboration’ described by Hargreaves and Fullan.1 Rather than being contrived and regulated, this more goal-directed collaboration is embedded in the culture and life of the school, where the teachers work together in solidarity as fellow professionals to respond to the needs and talents of their students.

The recent introduction of a new languages curriculum provides a strong developmental impetus to the system. The Department’s investment in teachers’ professional development, which grew over the time covered by the report, has focussed primarily on supporting teachers’ understanding of and facility to implement the revised curriculum. Its impact, however, must be bolstered by in-school teacher learning, through collaborative engagement between teachers and through professional self-reflection.

For schools, this approach will mean investing time in teacher collaboration that enables them to become familiar with the curriculum and to be confident in working with the learning outcomes and progression continua. Ongoing in-school discussion and reflection on both teachers’ and pupils’ experiences of the curriculum will be integral to embedding the changes.

By working together and talking about their professional practice, teachers can play an important role in developing their own professional learning and that of their colleagues. We know that collaborative professional practice is at the heart of effective schools.2 Through reflective interactions with one another, teachers share, test and transform practical teaching and learning experiences to help all pupils to develop fulfilling lives of meaning, purpose and success. Achieving this involves deep and sometimes demanding dialogue, candid and constructive feedback and continuous collaborative enquiry.

Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2012) Professional Capital London: Teachers College Press.

Hattie, J. (2008) Visible Learning Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. (2011) Visible Learning for Teachers New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

May 2019

Two practical ways to promote and maintain a culture of professional collaboration are making time available at staff meetings for discussions which are focussed on pupils’ learning and using the school self-evaluation (SSE) process to encourage teaching that engages and challenges pupils.

School leaders and leadership teams could extend continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities by sharing experiences and learning and monitoring the impact of resulting changes on pupils’ learning. The Droichead process provides principals and teaching colleagues with an opportunity to engage with newly qualified teachers to support reflection on their emerging professional practice.

In Junior Cycle, Subject Learning and Review (SLAR) meetings provide time for teachers to share and discuss samples of their assessments of student work and build a common understanding about the quality of learning. These meetings play a key role in fostering a collegial professional culture, and in developing teachers’ knowledge and skills.

A particular challenge is in ensuring that professional learning is translated into improved outcomes for pupils at the level of the individual classroom.

Peer observation of teaching and shared reflection on practice, though not yet widespread in the system, has the potential to be a deep learning experience for the teacher, and there may be merit in exploring its value with teachers through the SSE process. It is worth considering setting up teacherled groups to lead innovation and creativity in curriculum and teaching, to encourage peer evaluation of the impact of these and to lead on celebrating successes and learning from ‘failures.’

School self-evaluation (SSE) and external inspection both value teachers’ collaboration. In fact, it is at the heart of our frameworks. The embedding of the standards for educational provision that have been set out in Looking at Our Schools 2016 (LAOS) in our inspection and advisory work is one way in which the Inspectorate will contribute to the effort made in schools. Our inspection approaches have been developed through research and trialling in schools and extensive consultation with teachers, school leaders, parent groups, students, and the management bodies. We emphasise observation and discussion over test and examination results as sources of evidence and

our reports affirm collaborative practice in schools where we observe it. Our advisory role in relation to SSE complements this approach.

For schools, the school self-evaluation (SSE) process aligns with good collaborative practice and provides a tangible and workable framework to deliver change. The standards in LAOS include a number which describe the important role which school leaders, including the principal and other promoted teachers, have to play in fostering and supporting collaborative professionalism. A core belief underpinning this is that the most powerful factor in ensuring children’s learning is the quality of teachers’ individual and collective practice and how school leadership enables this to happen.

For schools, the school self-evaluation (SSE) process aligns with good collaborative practice and provides a tangible and workable framework to deliver change.

Establishing a culture of improvement, collaboration, innovation and creativity, and maintaining it through effective communication is important.

Our inspections in the period January 2013 to June 2016 acknowledged purposeful leadership of the principal, a whole-school focus on teaching and learning and a commitment to raising pupil attainment in more than 85% of schools inspected. Where schools provide time for teachers to design and implement teaching approaches to new curriculums this is affirmed in our inspection reports.

The Chief Inspector’s Report 2013-2016 acknowledges that there are challenges in leadership and management capacity. The need to create greater and more flexible middle-management capacity in Irish schools has been recognised in recent developments in relation to a new management and leadership framework in schools which revised the post structure in schools. Ensuring professional learning opportunities for principals is also very important. The establishment of the Centre for School Leadership in 2015 is a welcome development in the school system. The Centre’s responsibilities are intended to extend across the full continuum of leadership development, from training for aspiring school

leaders to the induction of newlyappointed principals and to oversight of continuing professional development throughout the school leader’s career.

The continuing development of its work will be very important in achieving the desired changes in our education system and in supporting school leaders to build a culture of professional collaboration in our schools.

During inspection we actively support the development of collaborative cultures in schools and we affirm those practices we find in schools which foster and encourage teachers working together. We acknowledge the challenges faced by school leaders and teachers in achieving collaboration and in measuring the impact it has on pupils’ learning. We experience those challenges too. They include promoting creativity, innovation and improvement while also meeting requirements for regulation and accountability; being consistent and fair while also allowing for flexibility and responsiveness to context; and balancing observed practice with analysis of numerical data when evaluating impact. We address these challenges by talking to our partners, by consulting teachers, school leaders, parent groups, students, management bodies. We learn from trialling our approaches and evaluating the experience. We amend and change based on experience and feedback.

The improvements achieved have always been worth the risks involved.

One of the biggest challenges to promoting collaborative culture is a school’s fear of failure as opposed to its willingness to take risks. Professional collaboration is not easy; it requires the leadership of the principal and other school leaders who work together to promote a learning culture for all.

Looking at Our Schools 2016

LINK TO REPORT

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LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

THE SCHOOLS’ FORUM Reviewing and redeveloping the primary curriculum

BERNIE McVEIGH PRINCIPAL, ST MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, MULLINGAR ALAN SHEEHAN PRINCIPAL, ROCHESTOWN EDUCATE TOGETHER NATIONAL SCHOOL, CORK The Schools’ Forum was established by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in May 2018.

It includes representatives from over 40 schools across the country. Meeting approximately three times per term, the Forum brings together principals and teachers from a rich diversity of schools and involves them working on key ideas for a redeveloped primary curriculum. This article gives a flavour of two schools’ experiences of being part of this curriculum development work.

SCHOOLS BECOMING INVOLVED In Spring 2018, the NCCA invited schools to participate in the review and redevelopment of the primary curriculum by joining the newly established Schools’ Forum. The redevelopment of any curriculum is significant, and our schools wished to be included in the process. The Forum provides us with opportunities for conversations as a staff and with colleagues from other schools about curriculum redevelopment. This is beneficial for teacher professional development and in understanding the curriculum redevelopment process.

OUR SCHOOLS’ EXPERIENCE Participation in discussions in the Forum raises interesting questions such as: ■■ What do we value in education?

■■ What is knowledge?

■■ What could a primary curriculum framework look like?

The Forum also includes preschool and post-primary colleagues and regular meetings give opportunities to engage in wider discussions about the role of education in Irish society.

The importance of transitions between the sectors and the connections with Aistear and the Framework for Junior Cycle is a regular topic of discussion.

Between meetings, the Forum uses Microsoft Teams, an online platform, to communicate and share materials and research among members.

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inform neighbouring schools about the redevelopment of the primary curriculum. This presented many attendees with the first opportunity to meet and share their teaching ideas and practices. Everyone found it helpful to step outside their individual classrooms and discuss common interests with colleagues from other schools.

The Forum also includes preschool and postprimary colleagues and regular meetings give opportunities to engage in wider discussions about the role of education in Irish society As part of the Forum, our schools arranged meetings with parents to give them the opportunity to reflect on their hopes for children’s primary education. Parents were asked about the types of learning experiences they would like their children to have in primary school. As well as providing valuable feedback to the NCCA, this process also gave our schools a chance to reflect with our parents on what we are doing well, which was very affirmative.

St Mary’s Primary School hosted a whole staff consultation with NCCA about the work of the Forum.

This stimulated questions and conversations about the education system, cultural context, and links and transitions between preschool, primary and post-primary curricula.

Teachers found the experience to be very positive and professionally thought provoking.

Rochestown Educate Together National School hosted a TeachMeet (an event where teachers gather to share ideas or discuss educational developments) to

Staff in our schools are delighted to have opportunities to consider the education research underpinning the redevelopment of the primary curriculum. We reflect on our practice as teachers, which is also shaping the redevelopment work. We also include the redevelopment on the agenda for staff meetings, various teachers attend the Forum meetings, and we complete a variety of consultation feedback forms together. From the initial meeting to now, where a draft of curriculum aims and principles is being discussed, it is a very rewarding journey. A shared commitment among the schools in the Forum helps to ensure that the next Primary Curriculum will meet the current and future needs of children, teachers and principals within our schools.

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE FORUM? You can find out additional information about the Schools’ Forum by visiting www.ncca.ie. The website also gives information about how your school can contribute to the redevelopment of the primary curriculum. The NCCA would be particularly interested in hearing from small schools with multi-classes that would like to join the Forum. If your school would like additional information you can email derek.grant@ncca.ie. The NCCA thanks Alan and Bernie for sharing their experience of the Schools’ Forum through this article.

LINK

May 2019

The NCCA

A Council Member’s Viewpoint

PAT CONNAGHAN Since I joined the NCCA almost a year ago, it has been a huge learning curve for me. As a principal, and in particular as a teaching principal, I hadn’t the time to go online and read all about what was going on in this organisation. I certainly wasn’t aware who was involved in the organisation or, more importantly, the process involved before a decision or action is taken. If I am to be totally honest, I thought the NCCA was another arm of the Department who sat in an office making up new policies for us teachers and schools to implement.

So who are the NCCA? The NCCA is a statutory body of the Department of Education and Skills. The Minister appoints a Council of 25 members on a three-year term. The Council represents all stakeholders in education and is supported by three Boards - for Early Childhood and Primary, for Junior Cycle and for Senior Cycle. In conjunction with the boards, there are a large number of development groups. For example, the Language Curriculum board which would have been involved in the recent redevelopment of the new Language Curriculum. The day-today work is led by the CEO and is supported by a full-time executive staff. I have been amazed at the expertise and professionalism of the staff who have come from teaching and education backgrounds, which gives me great confidence that schools and children are their main focus.

Now to the process. The remit of the NCCA is to advise the Minister on all matters of curriculum and assessment.

This advice is developed in four ways research, deliberations, consultations and networks. Research evidence, good practice and international experience informs the advice. The NCCA regularly commissions research papers on many topics by leading experts all over the world. The advice

is also based on discussions and deliberations by Council, boards and development groups. Consultations take place regularly with the public, schools and all stakeholders and, finally, networks of schools and early childhood settings provide feedback on ideas and approaches under development, and provide practical examples.

So where do I come in? I was co-opted onto the board for early childhood and primary as a representative of IPPN. It is my responsibility to make sure the voice of the teacher and school are heard at board level, to bring the views, concerns, challenges and ideas of teachers to the board.

I am heartened to see that teachers are represented at each stage of the process and in every arm of the organisation. And although schools are a very busy place it is worthwhile to engage in some way with the different processes because with the publication of the consultation report on the NCCA website teachers can see that issues and concerns raised are being addressed. From a teachers’ point of view, the moving of the progression continua to the toolkit now allows the teacher to focus on the learning outcomes rather than the continua.

The inclusion of the milestone ‘a’ in the progression continua is historic in special education and inclusion.

There is also widespread agreement to meaningful and ongoing CPD as there is a lot of uncertainty among teachers on how to navigate the New Revised Curriculum. This year also saw the completion of Mo Scéal: Preschool to Primary Transition.

NCCA worked with preschools and primary schools to develop Mo Scéal. There is no requirement to use these templates; they are a resource which preschools and schools might find useful as they collaborate in supporting young children and their families at this key transition.

In the last number of years, the NCCA has held a number of seminars to enable stakeholders to feed into the redevelopment of the curriculum.

Over 100 stakeholders attended each seminar from the teaching profession, school management bodies, trade unions, initial teacher educators and parent representatives. The seminars explored a range of topics associated with the curriculum, with considerable opportunity for discussion and feedback on pedagogy, assessment, curriculum structure, integration and the role of values, knowledge and skills. Feedback was recorded at each seminar and a report presented at board. Working in parallel to the seminars on the overview of a redeveloped curriculum, the NCCA is working with a school forum consisting of 40 schools.

Finally, I know how busy schools are but I would encourage principals and teachers to keep in touch with the work through the website and through the consultation process. The coming years are going to see changes as the curriculum is redeveloped so I believe it is important that teachers have an influence on how that curriculum is shaped.

And always remember: ‘One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.’

Malala Yousafzai Pat was principal of St. Columba’s NS, Acres, Donegal until his retirement in September 2017. He was a member of the IPPN Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018. In April 2018, Pat was co-opted to the NCCA’s Board for Early Childhood and Primary.

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LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Team Coaching Impact of People and Conversations on Culture CAROLINE QUINN PRINCIPAL OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL GNS, JOHNSTOWN, KILLINEY AND CSL MENTOR

The launch of the Centre for School Leadership in 2015 ensured support for school leaders, as trained mentors began working with newly appointed colleagues. This mentor training with CSL, one-to-one coaching with a professional coach, and the completion of a Coach Training Accreditation course with the Deputy Principal established a coaching style of leadership in our school. As we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the school opening, we examined the development of our school’s culture.

We now believe that organisations are made up of people, people are connected by conversations, conversations create culture, and the quality of those conversations determines the quality of the culture.

This mentor training with CSL, one-toone coaching with a professional coach, and the completion of a Coach Training Accreditation course with the Deputy Principal established a coaching style of leadership in our school.

We saw coaching as a way of being, something positive and inspirational, helping us shine a light on what was going well, what we could learn from past actions, and plot a pathway of development for the future. John Whitmore, in his book “Coaching for Performance”, tells us that we need to take the actions necessary to earn long term trusts and commitments as a foundation for long term value creation. Knowing how to lead in a coaching style that unlocks potential and delivers an improved collaborative culture was our aim.

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Our new Leadership and Management Team worked on functioning as a team, providing a style of collaborative leadership for this school. Team coaching sessions provided by the DES moved from being an individual conversation to one of group dynamics. We were starting a journey with a mindset of openness, where interdependence and positive relationships were central to our development as a team over time.

As we started this journey, we considered Clutterbuck’s characteristics of a highly effective team. We began by looking at the first three, starting with the team’s purpose and goals, a clear understanding of goals and priorities, and a high commitment to the team’s purpose before moving on. We found we were effective in expressing the “what” and the “how” of actions, but not always the “why”. Simon Sinek says that inspirational leadership always clarifies the rationale for actions. This would help clarify our vision, point us in the direction of a shared view, helping us to focus on the right things to make an impact, investing our time in the right space.

We knew a good situational awareness would guide our actions. We have 17 mainstream classes, 3 special classes for pupils with ASD, 25 teachers and 24 SNAs, and ancillary staff. Our challenge was to get the balance right.

Our values, what we see as important in our context, guided the journey.

Carol Dweck reminds us that a Growth Mindset allows people to value what they are doing regardless of the outcome. Our coach helped us take a balcony view of our context, see the full landscape, engage in horizon scanning rather than always reflecting at ground level.

The concept of ‘Team Think’, or thinking together, depends not just

on individual talents and skills, but how we function collectively as a team engaging with our stakeholders.

The GROW model is the coaching framework guiding us to set clear short/long-term Goals, face the Reality of our current situation through powerful questioning and active listening, explore Opportunities and options, and finally plan What will be done, by Whom and with a firm basis of Why, before defining what success will look like in our context.

The concept of ‘Team Think’, or thinking together, depends not just on individual talents and skills, but how we function collectively as a team engaging with our stakeholders.

The next leg of our journey will look at effective meetings and effective communication. Our aim is to leverage the collective wisdom of the team, as this team has the power to transform our school as a whole. Changing our culture requires an emotionally intelligent approach in the ‘living system’ of our school, creating the conditions for learning and growing.

CSL Team Coaching gives us the opportunity to achieve this.

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Standard acceptance criteria apply. Calls may be recorded.

Information correct at April 2019.

INSURANCE

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

www.ippn.ie Latest resources If your school has a policy or plan that is not available on ippn.ie, or which would supplement available resources, we would appreciate if you would submit it for review by email to rachel. hallahan@ippn.ie.

The following are the new resources available in the different sections of the website:

RESOURCES

DES CIRCULARS n 0020/2019 - Release Time for Principal Teachers in Primary Schools l Leadership & Management Cluster Application Form n 0019/2019 - Staffing arrangements in Primary Schools for the 2019/20 school year l Appendix A - Appointment & Retention of Mainstream Class Teachers n 0018/2019 - Grant Scheme for ICT Infrastructure– 2018/2019 School Year n 0017/2019 - Teacher Fee Refund Scheme 2018 n 0016/2019 - Home School Community Liaison Scheme: Assignment of Home School Community Liaison Coordinators within DEIS schools n 0011/2019 - Invitation to Primary and Post-Primary Schools in Gaeltacht Language-Planning Areas to consider joining the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme in 2019: Participation to Implementation (May 2019 August 2020) n 0009/2019 - Primary Schools and Special Schools in Gaeltacht Language-Planning Areas participating in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme: Next Implementation Phase (May 2019 – August 2020) n 0007/2019 - Circular to the Management Authorities of all Mainstream Primary Schools - Special Education Teaching Allocation n 0006/2019 - Post-Graduate Certificate/Diploma Programme of Continuing Professional Development for Teachers working with Students with Special Educational Needs (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Circular and Application Form n 0005/2019 - Graduate Certificate 20

in the Education of Pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for teachers working with Pupils with ASD in Special Schools, Special Classes or as Special Education Teachers in mainstream Primary and PostPrimary Schools, n 0004/2019 - Post-Graduate Diploma Programme of Continuing Professional Development for Special Education Teachers, 2019/2020.

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RESOURCE BUNDLES Child Protection – revised April 2019, which also includes the appendices listed separately under School Policies/Child Protection below.

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SCHOOL POLICIES Child Protection n Appendix 1 - Child Abuse Types, Symptoms & Reasonable Concern Thresholds - Neglect, Emotional & Physical Abuse n Appendix 2 - Child Abuse, Types, Symptoms & Reasonable Concern Thresholds - Sexual Abuse n Appendix 3 - Reasonable Grounds for Concern/Threshold of Harm n Appendix 4 - Circumstances which give rise to concern - Child Abuse n Appendix 5 - When a Child makes a Disclosure n Appendix 6 - Summary of Record Keeping Requirements n Appendix 7 - Child Protection Case File Checklist n Appendix 8 - Summary of Reporting Procedures n Appendix 9 - Unique Codes in Relation to Child Protection Case Files Simplified n Appendix 10 - Record of Allegation & Tusla Call - Optional Template A n Appendix 11 - Statement from DLP to School Personnel - Report Not Made To Tusla n Appendix 12 - DLP Informing or Not a Parent/Guardian that a Report is being made to Tusla n Appendix 13 - FAQs for Principals & BoM in relation to Child Protection Oversight Report n Appendix 14 - DES Checklist for Preparing Principals Oversight Report to the Board n Appendix 15 - Child Protection

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Oversight Report Appendix 16 - Template for Recording Documents provided to Board as Part of Child Protection Oversight Report Appendix 17 - DLP Communication with a Parent who has raised a Child Protection Concern about a member of School Personnel Appendix 18 - Child Safeguarding Risk Assessment Template Portrait Appendix 19 - Child Safeguarding Risk Assessment Template Landscape Appendix 20 - Mandatory Child Safeguarding Statement Appendix 21 - Checklist for Review of Child Safeguarding Statement - Mandatory Template Appendix 22 - Board of Management Review of Child Safeguarding Statement Appendix 23 - Guide to CPSI Checks Appendix 24 - The CPSI Process Summary Appendix 25 - Child Protection & Report Form - Tusla Appendix 26 - Child Protection & Welfare Report Form - Guidance Notes - Tusla Appendix 27 - Retrospective Abuse Form – Tusla Appendix 28 - Retrospective Abuse Report Form - Guidance Notes - Tusla.

PLANNING PROMPTS A new prompt is uploaded each week to this section.

SUPPORTS

E-SCÉALS A new E-scéal is uploaded each week to this section.

LEADERSHIP+ n Issue 108 - March 2019

ADVOCACY

SUBMISSIONS n Reduced Timetable n

The use of physical intervention for the prevention and management of crisis situations.

ABOUT US

NATIONAL COUNCIL REPORTS Meeting Updates 18/19 Meeting Reports n 9th March 2019.

May 2019

Using

Electronic Banking and Credit Cards for making payments in schools FINANCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES UNIT We are regularly asked by schools if it is a good idea to use electronic or internet banking for payments such as paying wages or suppliers.

Some schools still use cheques as the preferred method for settling all payments, however, the use of cheques has become more expensive and time consuming. Banking charges associated with electronic banking are considerably cheaper than cheques.

Accordingly, we would encourage all schools to move in this direction as soon as possible. Furthermore, under the National Payments Plan, public sector bodies are encouraged to move towards electronic banking.

Section 21 (d) of the Governance Manual for Primary Schools 2015 2019 states that ‘Boards may also avail of on-line banking services.

However, the Board must satisfy itself that proper internal controls are in place for the use of on-line banking services and that all proper and usual accounts are kept in respect of each transaction’. Therefore, the two board members who have been approved by the board to sign cheques, must also both approve all electronic payments. It is important to make this clear to your bank when setting up electronic payments from the school bank account. It is also important that a payee cannot be set up on the system without approval of the two approved board members.

Please follow the steps below when moving to electronic banking for payments for your school: ■■ Approval must first be obtained from the Board of Management for the use of electronic banking by the school. This approval should be included in the minutes of the board meeting ■■ Electronic payments are subject to the same rules as a cheque payment and therefore must be approved by two of the nominated signatories of the board ■■ In line with good financial practice,

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there should be a clear division of duties. The person preparing the payment should not be one of the approvers of the payment Access to approval of electronic payments must be password/PIN protected. It is not permissible for a bank approver/signatory to share logon details/PIN with other users Any additions and amendments to payees must be approved by the authorised signatories.

It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that the bank is aware of these controls and that the electronic banking system implemented complies fully with these controls

Access to approval of electronic payments must be password/ PIN protected. It is not permissible for a bank approver/signatory to share logon details/PIN with other users Section 12 (c) of the Governance Manual for Primary Schools 2015 - 2019 states that ‘The Board shall ensure that appropriate controls are in place in relation to the use of any school credit/debit card, online banking etc. These shall include appropriate protocols and procedures for the approval of user(s), custody of the card concerned, authorisation of payments, agreed payment limits and the supply of supporting documentation and records.’

Debit cards breach the conditions of the Governance Manual for Primary Schools in that two nominated signatories of the board must approve all payments. However, a credit card can be used in a school.

The credit card should be used only by the Principal. The Principal and chairperson must review each receipt for each transaction and sign the monthly credit card statement before any payment is made to the credit card company.

The FSSU has recently issued Financial Guideline P16 2018-2019 which outlines controls around the use of a credit card in a school.

If you need any further information, please email primary@fssu.ie or phone 01 910 4020.

www.databizsolutions.ie info@databizsolutions.ie (091) 556 755

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• School Admin • School Websites • Library Admin • Book Rental Admin • Messaging App • Online Payments • School Accounts • Teaching Planner • P/T Meeting Scheduler User-Friendly Systems Flexible Payment Options Available Contact us for a free demonstration or to arrange a free trial Visit databizsolutions.ie for videos, screenshots, and more detail

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21

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Towards a Better Future

NAPD PRINCIPALS AND DEPUTY PRINCIPALS

A Review of the Irish School System DR. JOHN COOLAHAN (RIP), DR. SHEELAGH DRUDY, DR. PÁDRAIG HOGAN, DR. ÁINE HYLAND, DR. SÉAMUS McGUINNESS

CHAPTER 6: Educational Leadership and Governance – Part II

This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from the IPPN/NAPD-commissioned research publication. In this issue, we present the second of two sets of excerpts from Chapter 6.

Educational Leadership Beyond the School Creating the conditions conducive to the growth of professional learning communities may sometimes fail the best efforts of school principals.

This can happen if the timetabling constraints are so rigid as to rule out finding non-teaching time on a regular basis, and if there are industrial relations difficulties in working outside normal school hours.

The ‘Croke Park hours’ of recent years were an effort to create such nonteaching time. These ‘hours’ were ingeniously used for constructive purposes by many school leaderships.

However, in teachers’ minds they were widely regarded as a muchresented imposition, directly linked to a government austerity regime.

Anything resembling a ‘Croke Park hours’ concept is unlikely to have a bright future where the leadership of Ireland’s schools is concerned.

What might hold more promise is a re-conceiving of the work of Ireland’s teachers that takes account of 21st century circumstances and needs. The provision for non-teaching hours in DES circular 0024/2016 represents an important new development. What is called for is a clear recognition by all parties of the manifold responsibilities that now constitute teaching as an occupation, reaching well beyond the classroom-based elements of the job. A negotiated settlement arising from such a re-conceiving might lay the ground for some very worthwhile developments in the years and decades ahead.

Fullan makes a provocative point, but also a thought-provoking one, in declaring that ‘the moral imperative will never amount to much unless 22

school leaders also take it on the road’ (2003, p.47). For Fullan, this primarily means school leaders taking their leadership insights beyond the school to work together in school districts and regions. For Ireland, with national associations of school leaders at primary level (IPPN) and postprimary level (NAPD), educational leadership beyond the school would have a national scope as well as a regional one. This arguably gives a more concentrated potential to the work of both bodies than would be possible for national associations in much larger countries. A researchinformed agenda that would do more justice to the view of leadership being advanced here would embrace actions like the following, in addition to taking development initiatives within schools: ■■ encouraging the profession to take ownership of the induction and probation of newly-qualified practitioners ■■ working actively with policy initiatives which seek to redress the inequities and other shortcomings of a misshapen assessment system (post-primary mainly) ■■ promoting professional learning communities between schools as well as within schools, including web-based communities ■■ articulating and promoting new ideas for policy and practice on how time in school might best be spent ■■ contributing ideas to Teaching Council, Education Centres, DES/TES and other bodies on new forms of CPD and its accreditation ■■ engaging proactively with national support agencies and

the Inspectorate to enhance the learning environments of formal education.

In the Irish context, the establishment of the Centre for School Leadership in April 2015 on a partnership basis between IPPN, NAPD and the DES augurs well for the advancement of ideas and actions like those considered above. Crucial to the success of the Centre is the provision of high-quality leadership courses for established and aspiring school leaders. No less crucial is the building up of a strong research dimension, informed by the most promising leadership developments at home and internationally. Fundamental to the longer term-success of such a Centre, moreover, is its freedom to speak fearlessly for and with school leaders.

GOVERNANCE AND EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP The governance structures in our primary and post-primary education clearly bear the stamp of Ireland’s 19th century educational history. This is especially evident in the prominence of the role of patron, or patron bodies – a concept that is not common in governance structures in education internationally. The roles and powers of the patron were acknowledged and specified in the 1998 Education Act, so any developments in governance structures or policies have to take place within the legal framework established by that Act. The various patron bodies in Ireland are keenly conscious of their own traditions and distinct identity. There are cases, however, where the lack of a statutory governance tier within some patron bodies can have negative consequences.

May 2019

It is widely acknowledged that too much of the time of school leaders is taken up with activities that leave limited opportunity to deal with the primary concern of promoting highquality learning in the school. It is important to recognise that changes in some governance structures in recent years have allowed significant inroads into this problem to be made in some schools. For instance, the reorganisation of VECs into ETBs has lessened the burden of administration on school principals, thus enabling a more successful and sustained engagement of educational leadership at school level. There has been notably less progress made in situations where the patron body is not such an authority. All too frequently here, school leaderships have been hampered by a plethora of tasks that might be handled by the governance authority, or have otherwise lacked the capacity or opportunity to identify and take educational leadership initiatives.

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND THE NOTION OF PARTNERSHIP We all recall the era of social partnership - between 1997 and 2007 - that brought major advances in Ireland’s economic development. During that period, the notion of partnership was not just that of a formal agreement to be negotiated and renewed between the government and the main social partners. It was also an idea that became influential outside of such formal agreements.

This brings home the need for a vision of educational effort, and more particularly of educational leadership, that can be shared among the different parties. Moreover, it underlines the importance of a clear and succinct concept of educational leadership: discovering and pursuing initiatives that enhance the quality of learning and teaching in the school.

School principals and deputy principals have a central role to play in building such partnerships anew, and sustaining them. This is Towardsofa ‘taking the the real significance moral imperative on the road.’ The work involves sustaining a dialogue A Review of the with a range Iris ofh bodies that have School System themselves a proper role to play Abo ut the Authors but who in educational leadership, are often preoccupied by other concerns, normally administrative and managerial ones. Partners to such a leadership dialogue would include: the DES, particularly the Inspectorate and the Teacher Education Section; national support agencies like PDST, JCT; the Teaching Council; the NCCA; Education Centres; parents’ bodies; student representative bodies; teacher educators and educational researchers in higher education.

The educational leadership voice of bodies like IPPN and NAPD has a particularly valuable contribution to make here.

To download an electronic version of the publication, go to www.ippn.ie – Advocacy – Publications. To purchase a hard copy, go to www.otb.ie and put ‘towards a better future’ in the search box.

BETTER FUTURE

Dr. John Coolahan is Emeritus Professor of Education at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

e - A Review of the Irish

Dr. Sheelagh Drudy is Emeritus Professor of Education and former Head of the School of Education at UCD.

Dr. Pádraig Hogan is Senior Lecturer in Education at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

School System

Dr Áine Hyland is Emeritu s Professor of Educa tion and former Vice-President of Univer sity College Cork, Ireland .

Dr. Séamus McGuinness is a former Senior Lecture the School of Educa r in tion, Trinity College, Dublin.

BETTER FUTURE A Review of the Irish School System

John Coolahan | Shee lagh Drudy Pádraig Hogan | Áine Hyland Séamus McGuinness

PRINCIPALS AND D EPUTY PRINCIPALS

ISBN 978-0-9555050-5-8

Towards a

NAPD

The kinds of powers given to patrons in the Irish legislation make Finnishtype reforms to governance difficult to accomplish here. Nevertheless, while working within the current statutory governance framework, it is still possible for gains of the kind mentioned above to be made in sectors other than the ETBs. For instance, clustering of small and medium-size schools could enable many leadership responsibilities, that are currently daunting, to be carried out with less difficulty, including the probation of newly-qualified teachers

Where such a dialogue on educational leadership becomes a lively and central part of a country’s educational life, the balance of influence in policy-making shifts dramatically. In an inclusive and energetic to-andfro such as this, the initiative comes to the hands of those who move to take it when the right opportunity arises, and who use it well. One of the main positive consequences of such a dialogue is that the discourse of educational policy-making now tends to become marked more by fertile ideas with a research-informed backing than by bureaucratic ideas or ideologically inspired ones. This allows a ‘virtuous circle’ to arise and enables educational leadership voices to come to the fore. Where our own country is concerned, this wouldn’t mark the end of acrimony in debates on educational policy-making and implementation, but it could do much to promote a more promising vista and to redress the negative and frequently misinformed character of much that has passed for debate in educational reform in recent years. It might even cultivate the conditions that would make the exploration of a new and necessary contractual deal for teachers possible. The fact that such a new deal for teachers has yet to appear on the horizon illustrates that a clear and convincing vision of educational leadership urgently needs to be taken on the road in Ireland.

Towards a Better Futur

On governance more generally, it is instructive to compare, or rather to contrast, the changes promoted in England & Wales after the 1988 Education Reform Act with those that have taken place in Finland since 1990.

Schools in Britain were encouraged to leave Local Education Authorities, thus becoming more autonomous.

However, autonomy here was linked to government-mandated performance targets on which individual schools could be ranked in league tables, and then rewarded or penalised through funding mechanisms. Meanwhile, in Finland, long-term measures were being enacted to entrust governance more decisively to federated municipalities. These measures promoted a light but capable central administration and a strong local leadership that was well-resourced and professionally supported (Aho et al, 2006, p.118ff).

and the sharing of expertise in school self-evaluation and in professional development. Where the heavy burden of administration on individual schools is concerned, moreover, there is much to recommend co-operative efforts by boards of management to explore how and where joint efforts might help to lessen that burden. In any event, to continue with a situation where very many schools – often quite small schools – have to work alone on resourcing and administration is to curtail the growth of a strong leadership capacity within the schools.

Published by the Irish Primary Principals’ Netwo rk and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals

NAPD PRINCIPALS AND D EPUTY PRINCIPALS

LINK

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LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

PARENTLINE A Support for Parents, and for Teachers RITA O’REILLY CEO OF PARENTLINE Parentline is a non-judgmental, confidential helpline for parents; somewhere for parents to call for support, information and to offload stress. Calls are taken by trained, experienced volunteer facilitators. It is a free service. If the caller needs us to call them, we will.

Children don’t come with a handbook.

Very often a parent has a concern or question about their parenting and doesn’t know where to turn or what to do. Because of Parentline’s confidentiality, the parent feels they can ask any question (big or small) and can say things they would not say to anyone else. This alone helps relieve stress and allows the parents to “see the wood from the trees”.

Parents often turn to teachers for support with parenting issues.

This, however, can be difficult or inappropriate due to the time constraints, confidentiality, unintentional disclosures, lack of experience in the topic, and for other reasons. The teacher can refer the parent to Parentline, who will give support and guidance.

It is often difficult for a parent to hear what might appear to be a criticism of their parenting. Parentline is a neutral point of information for both teacher and parent.

Parentline can be a support for the School Counsellor and Home School

Liaison Teacher – somewhere to ask questions and/or to refer a parent onto.

Parentline is a source of information on where to refer a parent for specific information – our facilitators work with a database of more than 3,000 referral agencies. For example, Parentline has strong links with Dyspraxia Ireland, ADHD Ireland and Aspire – we are based in the same building and have a shared internal telephone system. These other organisations offer practical support to parents, Parentline offers emotional support.

The following chart outlines the top ten reasons for calls to Parentline in 2018.

The following are some of the topics parents call about that are very much related to school: ■■ School refusal (lately we are seeing a big increase in this topic) ■■ Social Media – bullying on social media, taking and sharing inappropriate photos etc.

■■ Bullying ■■ Family issues ■■ Family breakdown ■■ Bereavement ■■ Drugs, alcohol, porn Parentline has a team trained to deliver the Non-Violent Resistance Programme. This is a programme where we work with the parent to

manage “child to parent” violence, aggression or control. Parentline is unique in that we deliver the programme on a one to one basis over the phone so it is available to everyone no matter where they live.

We can deliver talks on parenting in schools. And of course, teachers are parents too – they may need Parentline in a personal capacity.

Parentline is available by phone to (01) 8787230 from Monday to Thursday 10am to 9pm and Friday 10am to 5pm, and via their website at www.parentline.ie.

TOP TEN REASONS FOR CALLING PARENTLINE Anger/Aggression 175 Teenage Issues

Stress 109 Child Abusing Parents

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School/Work Issues

97

Marriage Breakdown

91

Discipline 71 Depression (parent)

62

Emotional Abuse

59

Out of Control

58

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Child Protection in Initial Teacher Education The student placement team at MIE recognised that additional input for students outlining the legislation underpinning Child Protection, the role of Mandated Persons and an overview of the Safeguarding Statement (including Risk Assessment) would be most beneficial. As schools have significant responsibilities in terms of CP compliance, it is desirable that student teachers are as informed as possible as they begin their placements.

MARIA DOYLE

IPPN IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

In March this year, following a plea

by IPPN President David Ruddy at our Conference in January, Marino Institute of Education (MIE) requested IPPN support for students in the area of Child Protection. MIE already provides a very comprehensive SPHE programme for students, which includes lectures on Child Protection.

However, with the enactment of Children First in December 2017, the student placement management team at MIE felt that a co-facilitated series of lectures with IPPN would be of significant benefit to students heading out on school placements.

This would ensure that ITE students were fully prepared to meet their responsibilities around CP when on placement.

Currently, as part of their SPHE studies, all first year students attending MIE complete the Tusla e-learning module on child protection and submit their certificate of completion to their tutor. Students are encouraged to have a copy of this certificate in their Student Placement folders. This will become a mandatory requirement for all MIE students from the next academic year. Second year students and PME1 students also complete the PDST e-learning module for child protection. Attendance at all SPHE lectures/workshops is mandatory and part of a student’s core curriculum studies.

It was a great pleasure for IPPN to support MIE ITE students in deepening their understanding of the critical area of child protection, thus ensuring that they are fully aware of their responsibilities.

David Ruddy and I co-facilitated a number of lectures to students covering the areas outlined above and these lectures were followed by student workshops where CP scenarios were presented and discussed.

It was a great pleasure for IPPN to support MIE ITE students in deepening their understanding of the critical area of child protection, thus ensuring that they are fully aware of their responsibilities. It will undoubtedly be most reassuring for school leaders who have students from MIE on placement in their schools to know that this comprehensive work has been completed pre placement. Great credit is due to Dr. Teresa O’ Doherty (President MIE) and Julie Uí Choistealbha (Director of Undergraduate Studies) for their foresight.

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DABBLEDOOMUSIC.COM THE FUN WAY TO LEARN ABOUT MUSIC 25

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING CYPSC in Action – Cork Committee

MICHEÁL REA AND PADRAIG McCABE

4. Help yourself to help you as a parent 5. Help your child stay technology safe 6. Help your child celebrate difference so that everyone belongs.

Suitable and accessible services are essential for children, their families, teachers, schools and principals.

Children and Young People’s Services Committees (CYPSC) are county-based committees with a remit to plan and co-ordinate these services for children. CYPSCs seek to improve outcomes through local and national interagency cooperation.

IPPN has been engaging with CYPSCs since they were first established, providing local principals with opportunities to build ‘collaborative relationships with key stakeholders’, to act as ‘a trusted voice for children’s welfare and learning’, to seek to ‘positively influence education policy’ and to work to ‘nurture and support the wellbeing of children, teachers and principals’, consistent with our strategic objectives and organisational goals.

IPPN has been engaging with CYPSCs since they were first established, providing local principals with opportunities to build ‘collaborative relationships with key stakeholders’…

A positive outcome showing the potential value of this work was highlighted recently in Cork. Members of the Cork CYPSC, including Micheál Rea, principal of Little Island NS and IPPN CYPSC rep, have long recognised the importance of social and emotional wellbeing of children as a theme relevant to all service providers. Having previously published a report entitled ‘Social and Emotional Wellbeing: an outline report on social and emotional wellbeing as it relates to children and young people’, the Committee embarked on further research on parents’ views about services and supports for children in Cork.

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Practical suggestions are included on what each of these messages looks like at each age level.

CYPSC Cork decided from the outset to focus on Social and Emotional Wellbeing as it was felt that it is a key foundation stone. The Supporting Parents sub group decided to develop practical parenting tips for all parents.

It was then decided that the best way to find out what parents wanted was to hold consultations with parents across all the age brackets from 0-24 years. These were held across the city and county in an effort to gain as representative a sample as possible.

The outcomes of the research in Cork provide valuable insights into what parents know and think about services for children. The research asked parents what makes their child happy / unhappy, what parents worry about, what supports parents find useful, what stops them seeking help and where they get advice. The research also explored parents’ own wellbeing. The responses provided researchers with rich data, casting a light on the day-to-day experiences of ordinary parents and children.

Two messages came back loud and clear: relationships matter (parents came when they were invited by someone they trusted) and parents want face-to-face support.

Arising out of these consultations, the Supporting Parents sub group distilled the feedback into six key messages: 1. Spend time with your child 2. Help your child to understand to express their feelings 3. Help your child adapt to changes

Two messages came back loud and clear: relationships matter (parents came when they were invited by someone they trusted) and parents want face-to-face support.

At each of the consultations, a commitment was made to return with the results and so, from March to June this year, parenting workshops are being held in each location based on what was learned.

The leaflet that was produced in Cork is available at www.cypsc. ie. Principals and teachers are trusted by parents and are often the first port of call when they are looking for advice on how to navigate the tricky world of parenting. Most teachers’ expertise doesn’t extend beyond their own experience. We believe that this resource will be very useful for schools to have at hand, to give out or to refer to.

Padraig McCabe is principal of St. Mary’s Junior NS, Clondalkin, a member of the IPPN Board of Directors and the IPPN National CYPSC Coordinator.

Micheál Rea is principal of Scoil Inse Ratha, Little Island, Cork. He is the IPPN representative on the Cork CYPSC and a former member of the Board of Directors.

LINK

May 2019

Occupational Health, Perceived Control and Bullying at Work:

The Experience of Primary Principals in Ireland

GRACE SHEEHAN PRINCIPAL OF ST ITA’S & ST JOSEPH’S NS, BALLOONAGH, TRALEE, CO. KERRY

As part of an effort to improve the occupational health and wellbeing of primary school principals in Ireland, research was completed via survey in liaison with Dr. Debora Jeske from University College Cork.

A sincere thanks to the 354 principals who completed the questionnaire.

This research responded to a need identified by previous research to examine the role of primary school principals in Ireland and to outline recommendations to improve their working conditions. This research examined the differences in the occupational health and safety of administrative and teaching principals.

It also examined their differences in relation to their perceived control over their work and their experience of dealing with bullying in schools.

Other factors which were examined included differences between principal categories in relation to person-job fit; affective commitment to their school; self-efficacy; turn-over intention and job satisfaction.

The findings of the research included: ■■ Teaching principals reported similar perceptions of occupational risks as administrative principals. 72.8 % of the entire cohort were within the ‘somewhat satisfied’ to ‘strongly satisfied’ range in relation to their satisfaction with ventilation; heat and light in the workplace. 85.3 % of the entire cohort were within the ‘somewhat satisfied’ to ‘strongly satisfied’ range in relation to the Board of Management’s support regarding their occupational safety at work.

64.9% of the entire cohort were within the ‘somewhat satisfied’ to ‘strongly satisfied’ range in relation to the support from the BoM regarding development of bullying/dignity at work and health and safety policies ■■

Initially it seemed that teaching principals have less perceived

control over their work than administrative principals. However further analysis suggested that the differences between the two groups were not significant ■■

Both teaching and administrative principals are equally likely to experience being bullied in the workplace. Administrative principals were more likely to report bullying by another teacher compared to teaching principals, who reported that they are more likely to be bullied by parents. The research found that direct bullying (mostly verbal abuse) is experienced by 39.8% of teaching principals and 60.2% of administrative principals.

Teaching principals (40.3%) and administrative principals (59.7%) reported being indirectly bullied at work.

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There was no difference found between the two groups in relation to affective commitment to their schools A small difference was reported between the two groups in relation to self-efficacy where administrative principals reported more self-efficacy than teaching principals There was no difference between the two groups in relation to turn-over intention Teaching principals reported less job satisfaction than administrative principals.

Further training for principals and BoMs in Health and Safety and Dignity in the Workplace

Administrative principals were more likely to report bullying by another teacher compared to teaching principals, who reported that they are more likely to be bullied by parents.

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The research also found that: ■■ Teaching principals reported less person-job fit than administrative principals

Centralisation of some administrative tasks and an agreed calendar by all stakeholders for completion of duties for the Department of Education and Skills

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Continuation of networking; mentoring and coaching support as advocated by IPPN An independent body which supports principals in relation to Dignity in the Workplace issues Improved measures in relation to person-job fit and recruitment.

The author wishes to acknowledge the support of the IPPN; the Network for Education Centre Directors and St. Senan’s in circulating the questionnaire. The author wishes to thank Dr. Debora Jeske from UCC for her support throughout this research.

Should anyone wish to clarify references, please contact IPPN by email to editor@ippn.ie. Grace’s full thesis is available to view or download from ippn.ie.

LINK

Some of the recommendations from the research include: ■■ Screening of buildings by the Health and Safety Authority and Environmental Protection Agency should be mandatory 27

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Thoughts from across the pond

Be the data driver, not the driven RICH BURCHILL A number of years ago over here, principals and teachers started to become inundated with suggestions about ‘data-driven instruction’. Being as tech savvy as I am, I assumed that must be a sequel to the 90s hit movie, ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ and wondered why the chauffeur in the new version was named ‘Data.’ The initiative reflected larger societal movements to utilize the use of newly-mined data management to improve the entire cradle to grave experience. But, unlike some aspects of society, schools don’t fit a one size fits all model.

In schools, when paired with the supposed panacea of high stakes testing for young children, it provided media, parents at youth soccer games on Saturday mornings, and folks in line at the supermarket, ammunition to once again criticize and compare schools in their communities. ‘Time on task’ became the new mantra and ill-informed practices became the norm, such as removing standards like outside recess time and reading to children. It all created a competitive environment, which sounds much like schools in Ireland had before IPPN and others encouraged collaborative best practice for principals.

Baseball, which was for a long time considered America’s most popular sport, has come to epitomize the overuse of data - where the use of

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metrics now determines everything from where fielders should be placed to optimize defending individual hitters to what kind of pitch each batter should be thrown. It has robbed the game of much of its natural appeal.

Comparable reactions, but in reverse, have impacted schools with less recognition of individual student needs.

Now despite the above, I do believe that there is certainly a major role for data to play in improving instruction and student learning. In a recent Leadership+, a report on findings from the TIMSS provided important information on Science instruction and characteristics of the Irish education system. That insight can be invaluable in assessing effectiveness of current practice. My concerns center around when data from non educators becomes the sole driving force in designing instruction, instead of being one contributing factor.

When that happens, developmental appropriateness gets thrown out with the bath water.

In one of my principalships, our entire faculty engaged in examining our writing program and what individual grade-level teachers expected from students entering and exiting their classes. The state standardized testing program had established that students in fourth grade should be able to write five formalized paragraph

pieces on demand. After examination, it was revealing to so many of the faculty that their expectations of what entering students could actually do as opposed to what they expected was not accurate. We then utilized that data to coordinate our entire school writing program so that it wasn’t an unfair expectation for fourth grade teachers to magically develop Nobel Prize-winning ten year old authors.

To me, it was a positive use of data on a school-wide basis to improve student learning instead of something imposed by outside forces.

Another article in Leadership+ shared the vision of the PDST, including Moral Purpose and Situational Awareness. It is so important and vital. Michael Fullan decades ago wrote about principals as ‘moral leaders’. Despite the passage of years and the influx of so much new, it still holds true. In a time of outside mandates and impositions for schools, it has never been more important.

School principals dealing with our younger students in particular, need to daily impart the knowledge of child development and best practice gained from experience to drive the data instead of being driven by it.

Rich, a school leadership consultant and retired Massachusetts principal, can be reached at richburchill6@ gmail.com.

May 2019

Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management Over 300 primary and post-primary teachers were conferred with the Post-graduate Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management at Maynooth University on 22nd March.

The first graduating class of this programme, offered regionally by the Department of Education, are

comprised of principals, deputy principals, middle leaders and teacher leaders from schools across the country. IPPN sponsors an annual prize for the graduate primary teacher leader who attains the highest results each year.

On Wednesday 20 th March, at a special awards ceremony, Professor Aidan Mulkeen, Deputy President of Maynooth University congratulated graduates who had excelled in their particular areas of study and on the privileged position they occupy within their chosen profession.

IPPN PRIZE-WINNERS 2018/2019

(Left to right) Professor Aidan Mulkeen; Prize-winner Margaret Lynch, Scoil Oilbhéir, Ballyvolane, Co. Cork; Professor Sharon Todd; David Ruddy, IPPN President; and Dr Mark Maguire.

(Left to right) Professor Aidan Mulkeen; Prize-winner Helen Coleman, Scoil Bhride, Edenderry, Co. Offaly; Dr. Mark Fennell, Student Tutor, Professor Sharon Todd and Dr Mark Maguire., all Maynooth University.

CE! A L UR P O Y K BOO IPPN Deputy Principals’

CONFERENCE

2019

CITYWEST HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTRE

Thursday 7th and Friday 8th November 2019

Confirmed to date…

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

PLENARY SEMINARS

n

n

Minister Joe McHugh n Adam Harris, CEO of AsIam

Curriculum leadership Intercultural Inclusion - Déirdre Kirwan n Wellbeing - Áine Fitzpatrick, Angela Lynch and a NEPS representative n ICT in Primary Schools - Dr Eemer Eivers n The IPPN PIEW Model and Toolkit to manage change in schools – Finbarr Hurley n

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Keep an eye on ippn.ie and your E-scéal for notification of event registration

LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

IPPN Submissons

Reduced Timetable and Physical Intervention GERALDINE D’ARCY IPPN RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS MANAGER As noted in On Your Behalf, we are concerned about the number of submissions requested by the Department, its agencies and the Joint Oireachtas Committee (JOC) at very short notice. If each agency, the JOC and the Department were to publish its agenda for the year in advance, for example, through the Primary Education Forum, this would greatly facilitate IPPN and other stakeholders in our advocacy work. It would enable IPPN to gather relevant inputs from our members, which would ensure an evidence-based approach to our submissions. This is important as these submissions, at least in theory, influence final policy positions and legislation right across primary education. The current approach, with very short timescales, often spanning school closures, makes it difficult to fully represent school leaders’ views, and this can have far-reaching consequences for children, parents and school staff. We have raised our concerns about this issue directly with the JOC and also with the Department via the Primary Education Forum and hope there will be an improved engagement with stakeholders in this regard.

REDUCED TIMETABLE Some schools use a reduced timetable as one tool, among a number of tools, to manage behaviour. In the case of younger children, it is generally used to create a more positive school experience, whereby hours are gradually increased to the full school day over a period of weeks. A reduced timetable can often make the school a more positive environment for the pupils themselves and for their families, as well as their peers in the classroom.

Most schools are very careful in ensuring that the use of reduced hours is appropriate and managed well. There have been a few cases that we are aware of where schools have not applied what we would 30

consider to be best practice and this has led to interpersonal difficulties and increased anxiety for all involved.

For this reason, IPPN believes that schools would benefit from clear guidelines in relation to the use of a reduced timetable. IPPN makes the following recommendations in this regard: 1. A reduced timetable should never be used as a sanction or for punishment of any kind 2. It should be used only as part of an overall behaviour management strategy which should specify the criteria which should be used in determining when a reduced timetable should apply. This strategy should be approved by the school’s Board of Management 3. The criteria should be defined in the Guidelines 4. A reduced timetable should only be used in accordance to the school’s policy, which should be approved by the school’s Board of Management 5. It should only be used with parental approval 6. It should be used for as short a period as possible, with a specific goal in terms of improved behaviour 7. The Principal should inform the Board of Management of decisions taken to introduce a reduced timetable for any pupil, as part of the Principal’s regular Report to the Board.

PHYSICAL INTERVENTION Most primary schools now have to deal with extreme challenging behaviour to a greater or a lesser degree, and very often do so without the experience, expertise and supports that are required. Principals and deputy principals, as the leaders of learning and as day-to-day managers of schools, have asked IPPN

to highlight their concerns regarding physical intervention with the DES and to request clear guidance, training and agreed protocols. In recent years, IPPN has sought advice from the Department and the Inspectorate in relation to issues that have arisen in many schools in this regard.

It is heartening to see some progress now happening in this area and we appreciate that the guidelines will seek to address ‘realistic and appropriate emergency procedures for crisis situations, involving episodes of extremely challenging or violent behaviour, causing serious risk to the student him/herself, or other students or staff members; and the supports available to students, teachers, and parents following such incidents.’ However, IPPN would strongly encourage the Department to prioritise training and support to avoid such incidents occurring, rather than ensuring supports are available after the fact.

Where schools have been in a position to put training in place for staff in relation to restrictive practices, the impact has been very positive.

In such circumstances, positive handling plans have been devised for pupils who need them; incidents are monitored and appropriate follow-up actions taken where necessary. Staff have reported increased confidence, and crucially, parents know what is happening to their vulnerable child.

Interestingly, where such training and support is available, staff also report that better quality teaching and learning is taking place for all children due to calmer and safer learning environments. This will have the benefit of improving learning outcomes across all subject areas.

There is no doubt that this is a difficult, emotive area fraught with ethical and legal considerations. What is clear is that Boards of Management

May 2019

need help to address this properly.

IPPN’s key recommendations are as follows: 1. Physical Intervention should be used as a last resort and must only ever be used for prevention and intervention, never for sanction.

2. Currently there are no official guidelines available for schools in relation to physical restraint/ restrictive practices. Such guidelines are essential to establish clear national standards for addressing this area, similar to the recent processes developed for Child Protection and Anti-Bullying. The existing guidance from the DES and NEPS essentially refers to ‘managing difficult behaviour’ and says to not use physical intervention or restrictive practice without expert training. While we agree that this should be the case, the guidance does not address the working reality in schools, where repeated, severe, violent behaviours can cause serious injury and damage and must be dealt with, even in the absence of expert guidance and training. We can no longer shy away from this difficult reality.

Currently there are no official guidelines available for schools in relation to physical restraint/restrictive practices. Such guidelines are essential to establish clear national standards for addressing this area, similar to the recent processes developed for Child Protection and Anti-Bullying.

3. The other essential element is the provision of certified training to the staff of schools or classes where physical interventions are required in order to keep pupils or staff safe. There are several agencies providing certified training. In Britain, it is mandatory that all school staff engaging in physical interventions must be trained in an appropriately approved system. All best

practice guidelines in Ireland from the Health Information Quality Authority and the Health Service Executive cite the necessity of such training for their residential centres. It now needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency. Training currently available from the Special Education Support Service (SESS) is excellent in relation to minimizing the need for interventions, but does not address training in physical intervention/restriction when it is needed, and is therefore inadequate.

4. Policy advice needs to apply to all schools in all settings. These issues are not confined to special education settings or indeed to pupils with special educational needs; they affect all schools to some degree. In 2014, Minister Ruairi Quinn stated that he had requested the NCSE to prepare policy advice on Educational Provision for Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and that, in developing this advice, they will consult widely with parents, professionals and other stakeholders. He told us that within this consultation process the use of seclusion/withdrawal rooms would be considered.

Such policy could take into account the policy guidelines developed by Cork special school principals, as outlined in Appendix I – Devising a Policy Regarding the use of Restrictive Practices/ Interventions/ Physical Restraint in Schools.

5. Central to best practice is the development of a culture in all schools that aims to: a. promote a culture of ‘positive handling’ throughout the school, focusing on mood management, the development of effective relationships, de-escalation, diffusion and distraction strategies

d. provide training and clear guidelines to staff, pupils and parents regarding the use of restrictive physical interventions, when they are necessary to keep people safe.

These are the principles that should underpin national guidelines.

6. All schools using any form of restrictive practice must have an agreed policy on restrictive practice. This policy should incorporate an evaluative stage in relation to any incident that takes place, in terms of: a. What did we do well and would do again? b. What would we do differently? c. Is what we did in line with our policy? d. To whom do we need to communicate outcomes of the evaluation and how will that be done?

7. We believe that there is a lack of awareness of the supports that are currently available to schools and this should be addressed as part of a review of policy.

8. Additional capacity is required within the NEPS service, to ensure that all schools seeking support can avail of it in a timely manner. There is no doubt that the quality of support provided

by SESS to primary schools to date has been excellent, but there is insufficient capacity.

It is crucial that the new NCSE support service, through their ten regional teams, be equipped to provide immediate support to principals and schools who are trying to cope with extreme challenging behaviours.

b. prevent and reduce the use of restrictive physical interventions

8. Where training in physical intervention/restrictive practice identifies equipment and other resources to safely implement the practices being trained, these must be made available to schools, along with the relevant certifications.

c. manage serious incidents safely when they occur, to prevent injury to the child and others

The above are excerpts from our submissions. Complete submissions can be viewed on www.ippn.ie on the Advocacy/Submissions webpage.

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LEADERSHIP+ The Professional Voice of Principals

Online Summer Course 2019 CIALL CEANNAITHE—ONLINE COURSE FOR SCHOOL LEADERS

This course has been developed to provide a greater understanding of the innovative solutions to challenges facing new and aspiring school leaders. A highly practical step-by-step course built on the collective wisdom and experience of seasoned principals.

Who should participate? n Newly appointed principals n Aspiring school leaders n Deputy principals n Experienced principals who wish to reflect on their leadership practice.

Who should participate?

Accessing professional supports & key resources n Getting started in your role n Scheduling priorities in the first year n Recruitment & Appointments n School Self Evaluation n Class Allocation n School Relations e.g. staff, parents & board members - Good practice for school leaders n Self Care – personal & professional n Child Protection n Data Protection n

Registration: n Course registration is now open n Commencing on July 1st n €95 - Online from July 1st to July 31st n Online booking and full details available on www.ippn.ie.

Course includes: 10 modules (20 hours) n Fully interactive online lessons with audio / video n Discussion forums with expert moderators & facilitators n Individual feedback on all submitted assignments n Online reflective learning log n Innovative technology-enhanced learning n DES approval for three EPV days on successful completion of the course n

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Jennifer McCarthy, Course Administrator • jennifer.mccarthy@ippn.ie

New & Improved

Child Protection Resource Bundle This Resource Bundle was fully revised and updated in April 2019. It provides school leaders with ■■ Requisite background information ■■ Step-by-step procedures for dealing with Child Protection concerns ■■ Advice sheets and all current mandatory and optional templates

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Discussion and training materials for school staff and BoMs ■■ Guidance to ensure compliance with the 65 items in the DES Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections (CPSI) model.

See Resources section on www.ippn.ie.

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LINK

And Finally…

Gems

from Profe ssor Andy Harg reaves!

‘There is no morality without temptation; otherwise it is just lack of opportunity.‘ ‘Courageo us leaders hip is not fea rless lead ership.

What ma kes you a leader is h ow you de al with your fears. ‘

‘On assessment: measure what you value instead of valuing only what you can measure.’