Maynooth University Research –Practice in Primary Schools during COVID-19 Closures
- Published: 03 April 2020
Over 2,800 primary school leaders responded to the survey issued last week by the primary education stakeholders – IPPN, INTO, PDST and the management bodies. This is a huge response and we sincerely thank everyone who participated. The richness of the resulting data, which has been analysed by Dr Jolanta Burke and Dr Majella Dempsey of Maynooth University (MU), will provide a lot of important learning for IPPN, and the other stakeholders as we refine our supports to schools in the coming days and weeks.
IPPN’s primary focus is on the additional supports school leaders have told us in the survey that you need. We have already begun work in response to the research findings and will share information about this with you through E-scéal, ippn.ie and the networking mailing list.
As stated in the Executive Summary of the MU report, which will be made available on ippn.ie as soon as it is published, ‘The most heartening finding from this extensive survey is the amount that has been achieved to date on adapting to this new reality. […] We are being forced to think in different ways, to solve problems together, to collaborate and to communicate in different ways, to educate and be educated in a different way. […] it is obvious there is a role that schools play that any amount of technology cannot replace, this is the social aspect of schooling, the relational aspect of learning of feedback and of being part of a community.’
It is very evident that the principal focus of school leaders is on the children - on supporting them, connecting with them in whatever way we can during this challenging time, and yes, on helping them to continue to learn.
Schools will have introduced additional measures to support children, parents and teachers since the survey was conducted. It was necessarily done quickly to provide key information to the stakeholders and it is understood that it is a snapshot of what schools put in place up to 26th March. Nonetheless, it has produced a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data to help drive a coordinated response from everyone involved in supporting schools at this very difficult time. Thank you.
