IPPN

Published: 15 August 2022

At last year’s autumn meetings, we flagged the fact that we had initiated a review of the governance of IPPN, as it was one of the stated priorities in our strategic plan for the period 2021 to 2025. The purpose of the review was to ensure that the structure of IPPN, from individual member to the Board of Directors, is best serving the needs of our members, in keeping with our stated aims.

In the course of the review, a number of important themes emerged, including the importance of

• building capacity within the network in terms of getting greater numbers involved in the work of IPPN as well as identifying capacity to contribute at National Council and Board level
• ensuring the meaningful and practical involvement of the National Council to better serve the needs of members.

In the May edition of Leadership+, I reported that there was a resoundingly positive response from the Board and the National Council to the proposals for the expansion of the Council in terms of its numbers and remit. Accordingly, amendments to IPPN’s Constitution were drafted to action those proposals and the National Council approved those amendments at an EGM in June.

So, what’s new? Well, at our autumn meetings this year, we will be seeking to elect three National Council representative for each City/County Network. Each of those National Council reps will serve on one of the three committees of the Council that are being formed to ensure their direct impact on the work of IPPN. The focus of those committees is on:

• advocacy & communications (submissions, position papers, publications, etc.)
• professional learning for leadership (CPD, leadership support, etc.)
• e-services (website, networking, sub-seeker, educationposts.ie, etc.).

National Council representatives will serve for a term of three years and can seek to be elected for one further three-year term. Further detail on the new City/County Networks and on how the rotation of Council members will work in practice will be shared at the autumn meetings. If more than one nomination is received for a specific role (for example the National Council rep to serve on the e-services committee), a postal ballot will be organised with all those present at the meeting being eligible to vote.

The City/County Network structure is being introduced to ensure that we get greater numbers of school leaders involved, to develop the capacity of the network as a whole. Nothing will change for 23 counties but in Cork, Galway and Dublin we are creating networks in each of the local authority areas. So, in Cork and Galway there will be two networks and in Dublin there will be four. We will be seeking to elect three National Council representatives in each of these areas. In total, across the country we will have 31 City/County Networks with a potential 93 National Council representatives.

We very much hope that this new expanded Council will encourage those of you who may have an interest in becoming more involved in IPPN and its work, to do so. Ideally, we would love to get a balance of teaching, administrative and deputy principals on our Council, as it is vitally important that those individual perspectives inform our work.

We look forward to meeting you at the autumn meetings as we gather in person for the first time in three years.

Le meas

Brian O’Doherty,
IPPN President