Changes to Support Leaders in Schools announced

Posted by Schooldays Newshound, on 16/01/2018. Changes to Support Leaders in Schools announced

Tags: Education And Politics Teachers

1,300 extra promotion posts for leadership in post primary schools

Minister Bruton highlights exciting leadership opportunities for teachers

Schools will today be informed of changes that the Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton T.D has made to the leadership structure in our schools.

The biggest influence on a child in a school is the quality of their teachers and the leadership within the school. Today’s announcement marks a significant investment by the government in supporting and encouraging leadership in our schools.

We have set the goal to be the best in Europe by 2026. Realising this goal involves delivering on ambitious targets in areas such as literacy and numeracy, embedding digital technologies in teaching and learning, breaking down cycles of educational disadvantage and supporting children with special educational needs.

School leaders will be pivotal to delivering in these areas and this government is committed to investing to support and empower them to do so. These changes are in addition to the other supports recently introduced through the Centre for School Leadership including a new postgraduate diploma in school leadership, a mentoring programme for newly appointed principals and a coaching service for school leaders.

The 1,300 extra posts being announced today build on the 1,300 extra posts which have already been rolled out in primary schools.

A circular issued today to all schools and will take immediate effect. It will detail the following changes:

Allocation of Assistant Principal posts of responsibility.

Creating a leadership team in schools, where the principal is supported by deputy and assistant principals.

Revised criteria for appointment to Assistant Principal Posts using a competency based model. Seniority as a stand-alone criterion will be phased out.

Greater flexibility in the assignment and re-assignment of roles and responsibilities to Assistant Principals. This will afford school management greater flexibility to respond to the individual needs and priorities of their school.

An appeals procedure for appointments confined to an alleged breach of procedures in the appointment process as set out in the Circular.

The re-designation of the current post of Assistant Principal as Assistant Principal I and the current post of Special Duties Teacher as Assistant Principal II.

Provision for reporting and regular review.

Announcing the changes, Minister Bruton said; “We are lucky in Ireland to have excellent leaders in our schools. I want to support these leaders and encourage and empower others to show leadership during my time as Minister. These changes will do just that and are key to achieving our ambition to make Ireland’s education and training service the best in Europe by 2026.”

“It is a great time to become a teacher. The hundreds of new positions being announced today will provide promotional opportunities for teachers. After today’s announcement 1 in 3 (34.5%) teachers will be in promoted positions in our schools.”

Source : education.ie