IPPN

Published: 01 November 2003

Following IPPN's conference in February 2003 a sub-committee was established to conduct a research project on the future of small primary schools and the role of teaching principal. This research sub-committee consists of six teaching principals, coordinated by Tomás O'Slatara, Tipperary, who will present their findings at IPPN Conference 2004 next February. Part of the research project is to examine alternative models of school organisation as they exist in other countries. To this end the research sub committee would like to make contact with and learn from the experience already gained by others.

Over the last decade or so, quite a number of Irish schools have made use of the Comenius programme enabling teachers and principals to visit schools across Europe and collaborate on agreed projects. The purpose of this e-mail is to enquire if you have come across any small schools with alternative or innovative governance / management structures.

Please consider the following:

• Are you aware of any innovative / creative approaches to the governance / principalship of small schools involving school clusters, confederations etc?
• Can you suggest any country / state / region that has experimented with or remodelled their small schools and as a consequence, would be worth investigation?
• Do you know of any research which has been carried out pertaining to small schools and alternative approaches to their governance / leadership?
• Can you advise of any university / academic that has researched or published on this or other related topics?

If you can help with any of aspect of this query, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please e-mail any information on this topic to info@ippn.ie with 'Future of Small Schools' in the subject bar.

Is mise le meas,

Seán Cottrell
Director