IPPN

29th January 2009 - Golden Opportunity to Reform Primary Education

Last Updated: Monday, 16 March 2009 15:48

900 Primary school Principals at the Irish Primary Principals' Network's (IPPN) annual Conference in Killarney are today asking the Minister for Education and Science to deliver key reforms to the way in which funding and staffing is allocated to primary schools. Responding to the economic reality, Principals have identified that the current crisis which has led to major cutbacks in education also presents a golden opportunity for reform. They want out-moded practices which inhibit primary schools from operating to their true potential to be replaced with modern, common-sense best practice.

Seán Cottrell, Director of IPPN, told Minister Batt O'Keefe that he was in a unique position at the cabinet table. "The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance are demanding public sector reform as a key strategy towards an effective and affordable range of public services. Your ministerial colleagues are challenged with delivering reform where there is resistance to change. In contrast, you have the Principals of primary schools - effectively your system managers - not only demanding reform but giving you a road map to implement it. There will be many who will tell you why it can't be done but remember the adage 'If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got'.

IPPN acknowledges the changed economic and fiscal environment, and the challenge for the education sector to respond in partnership with all others to deliver better services with fewer resources. "We need to respond to the immediate challenges, while not endangering the foundation on which the next growth phase in the economy can be firmly established." said Cottrell. He also said "in a number of recent contributions to the wider international debate on economic recovery, Ireland is cited as having the potential to lead economic growth because of the higher proportion of skilled, educated employees available. This is an outcome - not of good economic sense - but of good educational sense. We cannot overlook the educational wealth of this country. We need now to begin to build on this with a view to providing a high-level response to job creation, and ultimately to the re-growth of the economy."

In the Annual Competiveness Report, 2008, just published by the National Competitiveness Council, it was explicitly cited that quality education would be supported, and national outcomes raised if there was "greater autonomy for principals in setting and achieving goals and greater scope for principals to focus on being leaders of learning in their schools rather than planners and administrators".

We are at a critical juncture. How can we do more with less? And how can we do it now? Our baseline thinking is formed within the framework of:

Improving the quality of leading and learning at no cost or very low cost
Providing fresh thinking that will motivate, challenge, and enthuse leaders to create change opportunities
Supporting schools and school communities that will be affected not only by the broad educational cutbacks, but by resource deficiencies at local level that will impact as a significant morale-dip across school communities.

This extends far beyond the resource issues within the school. Teachers and Principals in particular, as school and community leaders will be the immediate interface with a very new reality in these communities.

Some communities have already been virtually wiped out by whole-scale redundancies that have affected them. Children must be protected as far as possible from economic depression impacting on their security, their health, their safety, their education. Let us not underestimate what can be achieved by responding meaningfully to small, low-cost or no-cost changes in schools. Parents too, despite the many losses that will impact on them, will never lose hope for their children and will resist any and every attempt to lower their aspirations for their children's future. Parents correctly recognise education as the cornerstone of their children's future.

Ends

Notes for Editor:

Reforming Primary Education - IPPN's 10 point Action Plan for Minister O'Keeffe - No cost or Low cost

200 days to the beginning of the next school year - September 2009

1. Re-define Principals' Contract balancing autonomy with accountability

Enable Principals to allocate and manage staff with required flexibility
Enable Principals to delegate management responsibilities to teachers as school priorities require
Enable Teaching Principals to undertake a Support Teaching role
Enable principals to prioritise smaller classes for Junior/Senior Infants and classes of teaching principals.
Streamline non-classroom teaching roles into a single support team

2. Streamline current funding into a single operational grant

Eliminate ring-fenced grants
Enable schools to set their own priorities on spending
Grant paid quarterly

3. Cluster small schools to provide reliable substitution for teaching Principals administration days

4. Reduce uncertified leave days from 31 to 5 per annum

Provide sub-cover only for day one of uncertified leave
Second and subsequent days require medical certificate

5. Work with IPPN to reduce unnecessary paperwork

Develop an on-line system to return school statistics
Eliminate duplication of form filling by placing non-sensitive data on-line

6. Identify and discontinue ineffective 'Quangos'

Query actual benefit to children
Query increase in paperwork for schools

7. Put professional fees for school construction projects to tender. Use current market forces to negotiate a reduction from the current 12.5% of total project costs

8. Modify the transport system for children with SEN. Instead of the high cost paying for taxis and employing escorts, give parents a reasonable mileage allowance to transport their own child to school where they can

9. DES to make single payment for water charges to Dept of the Environment