IPPN

Published: 10 February 2022

Last Thursday, the DE issued Information Note 0002/2022 outlining changes to special leave with Pay that came into effect from 7 February onwards for all Teaching and SNA staffs. The Information Note does not operate retrospectively and guidance in DE Circular 42/2021 and Information Note 0001/2022 will continue to apply to teachers and SNA who commenced special leave with pay prior to 7 February.

A revised application form (Appendix A) is required to be completed when a teacher or SNA is applying for special leave with pay from 7 February onwards. A number of scenarios have also been included by the DE in Appendix B of the information note.

Published: 10 February 2022

IPPN will send members a very quick 2-3 question survey early next week to gauge the current level of teacher absence and the availability (or lack thereof) of substitute teachers. This will help IPPN advocate on behalf of members in relation to the anticipated announcements regarding potential easing of COVID-related restrictions.

You need to opt in to receive texts from IPPN
Please note that text messages can only sent to members who actively opt in to receive them. This is usually done via the membership renewal form. If you haven’t been receiving texts from IPPN and would like to receive them, please email your name, roll number and mobile phone number to info@ippn.ie stating that you wish to receive text messages from IPPN. Confirmation of opt-in is required. Contact details are not sufficient, due to GDPR.

Sincere thanks to the more than 1500 members who responded to the short survey in early January. It was very helpful in IPPN’s engagement with the Department, education stakeholders and the media, in relation to the reopening of schools and the related challenges for school leaders

Published: 10 February 2022

As referenced in last week’s e-scéal, IPPN has teamed up with the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) to commission Professor Philip Riley and his research team from Deakin University in Australia, to undertake an Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Study with the principals and deputy principals of primary and post-primary schools in Ireland.

Hopefully, you will have had an opportunity to look at the videos on the website which provide more detail about the research project. You can access them via the following LINK

The survey portal will go live on Monday, 28th February, when you will receive a link by email and SMS (if you have signed up to receive SMS messages) to register for the survey. Registration can be readily completed on a mobile phone, but the research team strongly recommends that you would use a laptop, tablet or PC to undertake the survey, for ease of navigation.

The research team also recommends that the email address you use to register for the survey should be one that you access regularly and to which only you have access, as the report that you will receive after undertaking the survey will be personal to you. Use of generic school addresses such as principal@, office@ or info@, should be avoided.

Further updates and information will be provided closer to the time and it is hoped that you will derive much benefit from engagement with the study.

Published: 03 February 2022

IPPN, and our sister organisation at post-primary level, the National Association of Principal and Deputy Principals (NAPD), are the professional bodies for school leaders in Ireland. We seek to support and empower you with the provision of supports and services but we are also committed to ensuring that you have more time and space to maintain a focus on your core purpose of leading teaching and learning.

IPPN and NAPD have a shared concern that the increasing complexity and workload demands of school leadership roles are impacting on the health and well-being of Irish school leaders. Accordingly, we have teamed up to commission Professor Philip Riley, and his research team from Deakin University in Australia, to undertake the Irish Principal and Deputy Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey with school leaders in Ireland. This will form an important part of the Sustainable Leadership project.

Principals and deputy principals in our primary and post-primary schools will have the opportunity of engaging with this longitudinal study over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024. All participants will receive an instant, individualised report on their personal health and wellbeing status on completion of the survey. The research should also generate rich data that will benefit school leadership, schools and the wider education system. If you would like to find out more information about the research project, check out Dr Ben Arnold’s video on our website. This will give you a greater insight into what is involved in the project and what the learnings were from the previous research undertaken in Ireland.

This year, the window of opportunity for you to engage with the survey will be from Monday 28th February to Friday 8th April. While it is preferable that you would complete the survey in one sitting, it can be completed over a number of sittings as all data is saved each time you log on. We will provide you with further details of how to access the survey closer to the start date of 28th February. We would encourage all members to undertake and get involved in this important research survey.