IPPN

Published: 02 July 2009

AT LEAST sixteen primary school principals are retiring in Co. Wexford this year, leading to fears of a massive drain in talent in the local educational system.

Pat Goff, incoming President of the Irish Primary Principals' Network, and current principal of Coolcotts National School, said the positions are proving hard to fill, and that some primary schools could be left without a permanent principal in September.

He said that interest in taking on the job of principal has

been very low. Three jobs advertised in Co. Wexford this year had to be readvertised twice after no applications were received. '

Fifteen primary principals in Wexford will be retiring at the end of the current term. Schools saying goodbye to their current principals this summer include: Kilrane; Poulfour; Ballymitty; Ballycullane; Rathnure; Crossabeg; Castlebridge; St. Iberius, Wexford; Curracloe; Ballindaggin; St. Joseph's, New Ross; Ballythomas; Tagoat; Poulpeasty; and Monageer.

Another principal will be retiring in late October. Schools are also losing deputy principals and other teachers.

''In any normal year you might have two or three retiring. This is a major turnaround,' he said. Around 300 principals are retiring across the country, and an additional 80 secondary school principals,' said Pat Goff.

'You are not going to get a huge number of applications for these jobs. The national average is about two,' he continued. ' The job isn't attractive because of the money and the workload involved. It's a sad reflection. Being principal should be the pinnacle of anyone's career.'

He said the job of teaching principal, which is the post in 70 per cent of schools, is particularly unattractive.

He said that there are several reasons for the sudden upsurge in retirements, which has been reflected in other sectors of the public service. 'Anybody in or around retiring age has decided to retire, primarily because of the Pension Levy,' he said. 'There is also a very real fear that the lump sum is going to be taxed. If you have paid in for forty years, you don't want to see it affected.

'There was also the problem of diminishing resources at school. It's harder and harder to make ends meet. You are struggling all the time and this all adds to the stress.'

'Everyone is suffering cutbacks, but it seems to be hitting the public service a lot more,' he added. 'On the plus side, this means the chances of new teachers getting jobs, which were very slim up to now, have improved. There will also be a major saving for the Department losing people at the top of the scale and bringing in people at the bottom of the scale.'

'We don't know what other cuts are coming,' he added. ' We would very much prefer to protect the pupils at any costs. '

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Published: 02 July 2009

Children's ombudsman struggles in funds crisis

THE Office of the Children's Ombudsman is taking longer to deal with the growing number of calls because of a lack of resources.

Figures show the office received 453 calls in the first six months of this year, including a record 113 calls in June following the publication of the Ryan report into child abuse.

The volume of calls is up 23% compared with the same period last year. Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan said the cases arising out of the contacts were increasingly complex. She told an Oireachtas Committee her budget allocation is €2.31m ; down from €2.46m last year.

Ms Logan said she has been meeting with officials at the Department of Health and Children to discuss the budgetary demands, but claimed: "I think we are struggling, to be perfectly honest."

She said "progress there [at the meetings] has been slow as far as I am concerned", that the workload in her office was at a "critical stage" and said the process of dealing with complaints made to the office on behalf of or by children was taking longer than before.

Ms Logan told the meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children that her office's budget had fallen by 6.5% at a time when the number of calls to her office were growing.

"For example, we currently have complaints that relate to child death, response to reports of rape, child protection, children in care of the State with complex needs and the lack of mechanisms to deal with inappropriate behaviour towards children," she said.

Ms Logan also told the committee that she intends to play a more active role in having draft legislation affecting children referred to her office.

She also said she has contacted the clerks of the Dáil and the Seanad as well as the Minister for Health Mary Harney to seek amendments to the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002, under which her office was established, as she said there were "deficits" in the Act.

Among other issues addressed at the committee, Ms Logan said her office had identified 129 separated children seeking asylum under the age of 18 living in the Dublin area and continues to meet with some of them.

She also said there was an urgent need for a children's death review mechanism, and that meetings had been held with coroners and the Director of Public Prosecutions, among others, in an attempt to overhaul the present system.

But she stressed she did not see the need for a new body, but instead for a co-ordinated approach that would independently investigate child deaths, especially those of vulnerable children in state care.

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Published: 01 July 2009

The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD, and comedian Des Bishop today discussed a number of steps aimed at promoting Irish as a vibrant language in the community.

Speaking after a meeting in Government Buildings today, Minister O'Keeffe said: 'The Government's key objective is to promote the use of Irish as an every day community language and the education system is key to achieving that objective.

'Des Bishop has shown what can be achieved by becoming fluent in Irish in a very short timeframe.

'I'm keen to build on the goodwill he is generating towards Irish so that we can continue to encourage the use of the language in schools by students and teachers,' said Minister O'Keeffe.

As part of a forthcoming campaign to promote the Irish language in schools, Des Bishop and the Department are considering number of initiatives including:

• Leveraging the power of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo and new media such as YouTube to target young people;
• Promoting new online supports for the teaching of oral Irish to be piloted in a dozen post-primary schools from September;
• Embarking on a year-long nationwide tour of post-primary schools to create a sense of excitement around Irish in the classroom;
• Developing podcasts aimed at Junior Certificate students.

Des Bishop, whose award-winning documentary 'In The Name Of The Fada' was based on his year learning Irish in Connemara Gaeltacht, said he wants to work with Minister O'Keeffe to get more young people speaking Irish regularly.

'It was liberating to be able to go to a Gaeltacht without a word of Irish and emerge fluent in the language after a year.

'I believe that we can make an important breakthrough in the teaching of Irish by making learning more enjoyable and interactive and by emphasising the importance of the spoken word.

'Ultimately, we want to improve students' grasp of the everyday language and make it much more popular in the community than it is,' said Mr Bishop.

Minister O'Keeffe said: 'For the first time next year, the optional Junior Certificate oral exam will be worth 40pc of the marks rather than 20pc now.

'I'd like to see more schools offering the oral Irish exam at that level.

'The proportion of marks for oral Irish in the Leaving Certificate will increase from 25pc to 40pc from 2012.

'Clearly, then, our initiatives today will be key to preparing students for oral Irish exams and in generating a renewed sense of appreciation among school-goers for our native tongue.'

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Published: 01 July 2009

NEWLY appointed teachers who fail to disclose details of allegations of child abuse against them -- even if unproven -- could face the sack in future.

The tough approach follows legal advice which says that where an employee abuses, particularly sexually abuses, a pupil, the board of management could be sued.

The advice was obtained by the umbrella body for secondary schools, the JMB.

General secretary Ferdia Kelly last night said that in addition to checking references and ensuring new staff had been vetted, interview panels should ask a number of questions about the background of applicants.

An information leaflet for applicants says that the school must therefore make certain inquiries of all applicants for employment, which include:

• Where have you been residing during the previous five years?
• Were you ever the subject of an inquiry by the HSE concerning a child welfare matter?
• Were you ever the subject of a garda criminal investigation arising from a complaint of child abuse?
• Were you the subject of any allegation of criminal conduct or wrongdoing towards a minor?
• Are you aware of any material circumstance in respect of your own conduct which touched/touches on the welfare of a minor?

The leaflet says that it is a fundamental term of employment that applicants give full disclosure in their answers.

"You should also note that if the school is satisfied, in the future, that you have made incomplete or inaccurate disclosure, you may face disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal," it states.

Schools have been told to give copies of the information leaflet at the initial point of enquiry about vacant posts, to insert the questions into the application form or ask them at interview.

- John Walshe Education Editor

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