Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board delegates attend national conference

Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board have called for more Deputy Principals to tackle the problems of disadvantage in the educations system.

Principals and Deputy Principals from across Ireland’s Education & Training Boards (ETBs) made the call at a national conference held this week.

The author of the autobiographical account of her life growing up, ‘Poor’, Dr Katriona O’Sullivan addressed the conference. Over 300 delegates attended the event that took place in Portlaois.

Dr O’Sullivan, who is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science in Maynooth University, challenged those in attendance to expect and support excellence from all their students.

“Education is all about relationships”, Dr O’Sullivan told the ETB Principals and Deputy Principals, “and relationships require time and space. The allocation of more Deputy Principals can transform a school, freeing up school leaders to support students and teachers develop relationships where talent can shine.”

Paddy Lavelle, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland agrees: “ETBs have the highest proportion of DEIS post-primary schools in the country, 129 in total, and their young people need and deserve adequate supports.”

The representatives said: “The Deputy Principal role is a crucial one: the high administrative burden placed on Principals means the Deputy Principal is, typically, the staff-member available to identify challenges or risks for the student body or individual students; to provide support to students experiencing difficulties; to keep a watching eye on at-risk students and to liaise with other support services to ensure all students get the care and attention they need.”

Mr Lavelle used the opportunity to make the case for increasing the number of Deputy Principals: “We are appealing to the Department to increase the allocation by between .5 and 1 Deputy Principal per school, depending on its size* and believe this will make a significant impact on outcomes for our learners, some of whom are the most vulnerable young people in Irish society. From the feedback we’ve received from our Principals, this increase will help relieve the administrative burden and free them up for a greater focus on Teaching and Learning, providing increased support for student support and wellbeing, and professional support for their teachers.”

This year’s ETBI Principals and Deputy Principals Conference was also addressed by Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children and Prof Selina McCoy, Associate Research Professor ESRI. Delegates also attended workshops on meeting the challenges of vaping,

‘hidden bullying’ and the new Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum.

Minister Peter Burke raised the issue of pay and conditions of Tutors in the Longford Westmeath Education Training Boards with the Minister for Higher Education, Minster Simon Harris recently: “I am glad that plans are advanced at regularising the terms and conditions of tutors that do such valuable work in our education sector and that a proposal to standardised the payscale and align it with the Youthreach Resource Person Scale is being considered.”

Minister Burke said: “We need to be able to attract and retain staff in the Adult Education sector and improving the pay and conditions and allowing for an incremental progression on a career path will be a useful aid to reaching this goal.

“I welcome the progress to date with the Department of Education, the Department of Higher Education and the unions agreeing in principle to the proposals and await final sign off from Department of Public Enterprise,” he said.

Minister burke concluded by saying: “There will be flexibility offered to tutors to opt for the new Adult Educator pay scale or to remain on their existing arrangement.”