IPPN

E-Scéal 86: DES Disadvantage Survey

Published: 20 May 2005

IPPN has a number of serious concerns about this survey:

This survey is yet another example of principals' workload being increased. Ironically, two different sections of the DES are currently in discussion with IPPN on how principals' workload and school administration can be reduced!
IPPN has consistently highlighted the need for a more scientific approach to collecting data and profiling levels of disadvantage in schools. There are numerous examples of such practice around the world including North of Ireland and New Zealand. If such an approach were implemented the information would be gathered from primary and secondary sources i.e. directly from families and from the Departments of Health (Medical Cards) and Family & Social Affairs (Social Welfare).
Instead, this survey requires you as principal to form opinions and make subjective judgements about socio, economic and educational conditions of the pupils in your school as well as those pupils' families. This is an unreasonable responsibility to place on principals and teachers in schools.
IPPN was asked to participate in an advisory group which would 'advise' the design of the questionnaire. On foot of arguments made the questionnaire was reduced from 28 to 14 questions. Because the DES is still without the facility of a National pupil database it appears this exercise cannot be carried out in a manner which will profile levels of disadvantage on a pupil/family basis - instead it will be used to paint an overall picture of disadvantage levels within your school.
As principal, I am sure you will agree that nothing should come in the way of enabling additional resources for your school. It is however, most unprofessional that you are expected to engage in a data collection process which is not just unscientific and open to misinterpretation but also placing an unacceptable responsibility and additional workload on principals Your sense of professional duty will of course leave you with no other option but to involve your teaching colleagues in the completion of the survey.
IPPN is very concerned about the wording of question 6 which appears to require factual information, given that the thrust of other questions indicate the 'opinion' of the principal. To address this point, IPPN suggests that you insert a disclaimer at the end of the survey whereupon you are requested to sign your name. A suggested disclaimer to be inserted, in handwriting if you wish, is:
The information provided in this survey by the teachers and principal of this school is based on our collective knowledge and experience of the children in our care. The data provided has not been collected from verifiable sources, therefore we cannot be held responsible for its accuracy.The information profiling the children's levels of disadvantage is therefore based on our collective opinion rather than a statement of fact. To be signed by Principal and Chairperson.
In order to support you and assist with the completion of the survey, the IPPN Executive will prepare a template which you can circulate to your class teachers to assist with the collection of teacher's information on children. This will be circulated by E-scéal early next week. We are also asking the Education Research Centre for a deferral of the return date given the task in hand and the poor timing of its arrival in schools at the busiest time of the year.
Given the points raised by IPPN to the DES, outlined in summary above, this must be the last time you as principal will be asked to complete such a repetitive exercise.

Meanwhile please refer to the article on page 3 of Leadership+.

Is mise le meas,

Seán Cottrell, Director
Irish Primary Principals' Network.

Related E-ScÉals

E-Scéal 86 - DES Disadvantage Survey & On-line Summer Course - The Principal & The Law

E-Scéal 85: DES Disadvantage Survey & On-Line Summer Course - The Principal and The Law

Published: 18 May 2005

A survey has been sent by the DES to Principals seeking information on levels of disadvantage experienced by pupils and their families. IPPN will issue an E-scéal in the coming days referring to this survey and offering specific guidance to Principals in relation to its completion. Meanwhile please refer to the article on Disadvantage on page 3 of Leadership+ which was posted to your school on Monday of this week.

On-line Summer Course for Principals & Deputies

IPPN, in conjunction with Mary Immaculate College, Limerick will offer a number of opportunities for members to partake in an on-line Professional Development Course on 'The Principal & The Law'. The course will be available to 50 participants during July 4th to 8th and a further 50 participants during August 22nd to 26th. These two courses will operated under DES regulations including 3 EPV days. A third course will be offered independently of the DES during September. This will be available to an unlimited number of participants and will not involve EPV days. All three courses are presented and facilitated by IPPN's legal adviser - Mr. David Ruddy BL.

Title: The Principal and the Law
Facilitator: Mr. David Ruddy BL
Cost: €75
Timescale:
Course 1:July 4th - 8th
Course 2:August 22nd - 28th
Course 3:September 5th - 23rd
EPV:
DES approved for three 'extra personal vacation' days for Courses 1 & 2 only
Applications:
Application Form will be sent to you on Monday 23rd. Complete and return to IPPN Support Office, Glounthaune, Co Cork with €75 fee by June 10th.
Venue:
Accessible on-line from your own computer. A CD is also provided to minimise time / cost of internet access.

Is mise le meas,
Seán Cottrell
Director

Related E-ScÉals

E-scéal 87 - DES Disadvantage Survey

E-Scéal 84: €3,000 Bursary for Pilot Project to Cluster Small Schools

Published: 13 May 2005

The purpose of this bursary competition is to actively encourage Teaching Principals to consider benefits of professional collaboration amongst smaller schools and their communities with reference to - Breacadh Ré Nua do Scoileanna Beaga - New Horizons for Smaller Schools. There are many benefits to school clustering including:

providing enhanced educational opportunities for children
sharing the administrative and curricular workload
breaking the professional isolation experienced by principals and staffs
benefiting from the professional growth opportunities
enjoying the expertise and advice of a greater number of colleagues
enjoying some of the benefits of larger schools

With specific regard to the educational benefits of the children and the professional opportunities for teachers, proposals are invited to outline a vision and timetabled plan for a cluster of Small Schools up to a maximum number of 5.

The bursary proposal form is accessible from the homepage of www.ippn.ie and should be returned not later than May 31st. An independent panel will adjudicate and identify the two best proposals each of which will be rewarded €3,000. This bursary amount can be used to assist with any aspect of the project.

E-Scéal 83: SEN Allocations

Published: 10 May 2005

Below are the details available from the DES on the new general allocation system for SEN. As soon as clarification is received on a number of issues, we will post further information.

John Curran - PRO IPPN

Press Release - 8 May 2005 DES

Hanafin announces 660 extra special needs Teachers for primary schools from September 2005.

Means 1100 additional teaching posts for special needs children since last June.

The Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin, T.D., today announced 660 extra special needs teaching posts will be put in place in primary schools from next September. Announcing these new posts, Minister Hanafin said these teachers will "ensure that children will have access to resource teaching support as soon as they need it, without having to wait for an individual application to be processed."

Each primary school will be allocated resource teaching hours, based on their enrolment figures, to cater for the needs of pupils with high-incidence special educational needs, such as dyslexia. Resources for these pupils were previously only considered on an individual application basis, supported by psychological assessments. For many parents this was a lengthy and expensive process.

The model reflects the fact that pupils with more general learning difficulties are distributed throughout the education system, while taking into account the differing needs of the most disadvantaged schools and the evidence that boys have greater difficulties than girls in this regard.

Pupils with more serious special needs, such as autism, will continue to be catered for on an individual application basis, as these children are not equally distributed throughout the school system. However, the commencement of operations by the National Council for Special Education last January and the recruitment of 71 local special needs organisers throughout the country should greatly enhance the speed of response to such applications.

The introduction of this new system will involve the provision of an estimated additional 340 permanent posts in primary schools from September next.

A further 320 posts are being provided on a temporary basis to facilitate the transition to the new system. Children who have previously been given an individual allocation will not lose out as a result of this model as 320 posts are being provided to ensure continuity of service until those children leave the primary school.

The new model replaces that which was notified to schools in June 2004, which has been reviewed to take account of difficulties that it may have caused for smaller schools.

The Minister pointed out that this was a further strong demonstration of the Government commitment to special needs. The 660 additional posts announced today brings to 1100 the number of additional teaching posts for special needs authorised since last June.

Minister Hanafin said she was "delighted to be able to get such significant resources for special needs provision in primary schools. Prioritising special needs and disadvantage has been top of my agenda since becoming Minister for Education and Science. I also want to acknowledge the support of the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen and the Government in making the necessary resources available."

ENDS

8th May 2005

Appendix

Background to Model and Details of Model

The decision to allocate these additional teaching posts follows a review of a proposed new resource allocation system requested by Minister Hanafin. An allocation system proposed last year provided for the allocation to schools of teachers on a permanent basis for the pupils concerned to obviate the need for individual applications from schools. The advantages of the new system are that:

It puts resources permanently in place in schools and thereby facilitates flexible and early intervention;
It reduces the need for individual applications and supporting psychological assessments for pupils in the categories involved;
It puts resources in place on a more systematic basis thereby giving schools more certainty about their resource levels;
*Greater flexibility is given to school management in the deployment of resources
Greater levels of certainty about resource allocations facilitates better planning within the system both at central and local level, leading to more effective and efficient delivery of services.

Minister Hanafin had requested a review of the system to take account, in particular, of the impact on small and rural schools. Following revision the appointment ratios are being improved with particular improvements for those schools.

The General Allocation System will operate as follows:

1. Small schools

To alleviate the impact of the original model on smaller schools, the point at which the smaller schools can appoint their first post has been significantly reduced. As differing Pupil teacher ratios apply to Boys school, Mixed schools and Girls schools, for the purposes of the General Allocation System, a small school in the case of boys schools as a school with less than 135 pupils; in the case of a mixed schools as a school with less than 145 pupils and in the case of a girls school as a school with less than 195 pupils.

small Boys schools will qualify for their first post at 100 pupils.
small Mixed schools will qualify for their first post at 105 pupils.
small Girls schools will qualify for their first post at 150 pupils.

[However no additional resources will be allowed to small Boys schools as defined on the basis of any enrolment above 100; in the case of small Mixed schools as defined on the basis of any enrolment above 105 or, in the case of small Girls schools, for any enrolment above 150.]

2. Other Provisions

Boys' schools with 135 pupils or more:
1st post at 135: 2nd post at 295; 3rd post at 475, 4th post at 655 and so on.

It should be noted that schools would qualify for a pro rata part of a post for pupil numbers between the 1st and 2nd post, the 2nd and 3rd post and so on. In the case of a Boys schools with 215 pupils, the school would get 1.5 posts.

Mixed schools with 145 pupils or more:
1st post at 145; 2nd post at 315; 3rd post at 495, 4th post at 675 and so on.
Girls' schools with 195 pupils or more:
1st post at 195; 2nd post at 395; 3rd post at 595; 4th post at 795 and so on.
Disadvantaged schools
1st post at 80; 2nd post at 160; 3rd post at 240; 4th post at 320 and so on.

Related E-ScÉals

E-Scéal 93 - Further Clarifications relating to queries on General Allocation Model
E-Scéal 89 - Hours required for SEN posts
E-Scéal 88 - SEN: Clarification sought by IPPN on your behalf

E-Scéal 82: Professional Development - Training & Workshop Opportunities

Published: 09 May 2005

Professional Development - Training & Workshop Opportunities

Professor Michael Fullan Workshops

Due to a number of cancellations, a limited number of places are available at the three Prof. Michael Fullan one-day workshops. The workshops take place at Springfort Hall - Mallow, Corrib Great Southern - Galway & Castleknock Hotel - Dublin on May 9^th, 10^th & 12^th respectively from 9am to 4pm. Workshop places are open to Principals and Deputy Principals‚ Substitute cover was requested from the DES but regrettably has not been granted. If you wish to attend, your BoM authorisation is required. Contact IPPN Support Office for further details: info@ippn.ie or 1890 21 22 23

Principals On-line Summer Course

IPPN in conjunction with Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, will offer an on-line summer course - 'The Principal & The Law' facilitated by Mr David Ruddy, BL, this summer. In order to suit the needs of the maximum number of participants, the course will be offered in a variety of means:

1. July 4^th - 8^th - DES approved summer course - EPV days - 50 participants maximum

2. August 22^nd - 26^th - DES approved summer course - EPV days -50 participants maximum

3. September - dates to be decided - independent course - no EPV days - unlimited number of participants

Full details on application process, fees etc will be circulated by E-scéal in early May.

www.educationopinion.ie

A specific website has been established for the purpose of surveys and opinion polls relevant to broad education issues and matters of specific interest to Principals & Deputies. Currently, two surveys are being conducted on-line as part of post-graduate research activity. These surveys refer to approaches taken to the teaching of Irish and the merits of computerised scoring systems for standardised assessment. If you wish to part-take in the surveys, log on to www.EducationPosts.ie

Is mise le meas

Seán Cottrell