'Raise the bar and close the gap'

MY EDUCATION WEEK: SEÁN COTTRELLDirector, Irish Primary Principals' Network

MONDAY

I start my week with a meeting in the National Support Office to plan the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) conference, which starts on Friday. With more than 1,100 principals booked to attend, it will be the biggest meeting of educational leaders in Europe this year. This is not a union, it’s a professional organisation. There won’t be any pictures of the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, running scared from the convention hall at Citywest.

I think the reason so many principals (one in three) are coming is that this is the only opportunity they get for professional development. We will have seminars, workshops and guest speakers such as renowned film-maker and educational leader Lord David Puttnam, former president Mary Robinson, change expert Prof Michael Fullan, Ruairí Quinn and broadcaster Olivia O’Leary, among others. We’ll be examining everything from iPods in the classroom to child protection.

At lunchtime on Friday, we are hosting a unique event – a private symposium of business leaders with an interest in education. Over the past few years, the heads of industry have been very open about their views on secondary education and how it should be reformed. We need to get them talking about primary education, because that is the bedrock for everything that follows. We’ll have input from Dell, Ely Lilly, EMC, the Kerry Group and Merck Sharp Dohme, among others.

TUESDAY

We are getting so many calls and emails on matters related to the cutbacks; more than 300 this week. Principals are very worried. What I don’t understand is why the cuts are not being applied fairly. So far, the groups that have been targeted are Travellers, users of special needs assistants and resource staff, and DEIS schools. Now small rural schools, which are the beating heart of many communities, are under attack. This is not fair. Okay, so they haven’t touched the ratios in mainstream schools, but the most vulnerable groups are all under threat.

As a professional body we pride ourselves on giving the Minister a warm welcome at conference, but that doesn’t mean we won’t tackle him on these hard issues. To be fair to Quinn, he has always shown a strong commitment to education. He’s the only political figure who has routinely attended our conference over the years, and he always stays for the whole conference, not just the gala dinner.

Unfortunately he is dealing, and has been dealt, the worst hand of any education minister in a generation.

My speech is under constant review this week. I’m like a frustrated artist at the easel – constantly touching and retouching. This is definitely my least favourite part of the job.

WEDNESDAY

Our president, Gerry Murphy, and I tramped the corridors of Leinster House today, meeting TDs and senators of all parties to impress upon them the importance of reversing the DEIS cuts and keeping small rural schools open.

I had a late-night phone call from a very excited Michael Fullan. He is professor emeritus of the Ontario institute for studies in education at the University of Toronto, and a worldwide authority on educational reform. He says he doesn’t know of any other organisation hosting a business-leader symposium on the subject of primary education, and he’s really looking forward to it.

Fullan talks about “raising the bar and closing the gap”. He feels we don’t expect enough of our children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. He also says international figures relating to academic outcomes can sometimes mask enormous gaps between the highest and lowest levels of achievement. It’s an underreported fact that the latest OECD programme for international student assessment results for Ireland, while not great overall, showed that the gap between children here is not nearly as severe as it is in other countries. This is a testament to the amount of support we have been giving through SNAs and resource teachers. We have to keep that level of support up or we’ll go backwards. It’s very hard to get anyone to have that conversation at the moment, though.

THURSDAY

I have an appointment with my neuro-consultant today to review my Parkinson’s condition. I hope that he will be able to keep me steady as the adrenalin attached to public performance, coupled with Parkinson’s, can be a difficult combination.

More changes to my speech. One of the issues I was to highlight is the importance of rural schools. I’m truly worried about the threat posed by changes in pupil-teacher ratios in this sector. I’m thinking of a four-teacher school in Co Sligo where parents and staff have done a huge amount of fundraising to develop the school and provide state-of-the-art classrooms and facilities for the students. Now it looks like one of those classrooms will be empty because they will lose a teacher.

I don’t believe closing these schools is going to save money – the students will have to be accommodated elsewhere which will, in many cases, call for the development of extra classrooms in other schools. In short, more money. We have researched and are proposing a model that works well in places such as Canada and Australia, where there are many far-flung small populations. The idea is to amalgamate all the functions that don’t relate directly to teaching, such as management, finance and human resources. These schools share a board of management and in some cases a principal. It means that the Department would have fewer schools to deal with and lower costs overall. We’ve seen it work.

FRIDAY

Reading the papers today, I’m hopeful that the Minister will row back on DEIS cutbacks. He has promised a review of all DEIS Band 2 schools within a month. That’s 170 schools. With 15 inspectors, that will be quite a feat.

Just read a lovely quote from one of our speakers, David Puttnam. “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will live its life believing that it is stupid.” Differentiated education is so important. As a young teacher starting out I was always told to “aim for the middle”. Only now, in the 21st century, are we realising that we need to be creative to suit the needs of pupils. Unfortunately, in schools, we are often constrained by regulations from a previous era. Still, you do what you have to do. I often say, it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Got a call from Oliver Callan (Green Tea). He wants to know who to lampoon at the after-dinner show. “Spare nobody,” I said.

SATURDAY

Spoke with the Minister today about what we can achieve. A lot was talked about, a lot more between the lines. We’ve made it known that cuts should be applied across the board, not just to vulnerable groups. We welcomed children with special needs into the schools because Micheal Martin, then education minister, assured us that resources would be made available for them. Right now it’s like the Department is playing a game of Jenga with the system: pull out a brick here and a brick there, and soon the whole thing will collapse.

We also spoke about funding generally. About 75 per cent of primary schools are now using fundraising money to pay utility bills. It’s a sad situation to have principal ringing us, worried that they can’t pay the electricity bill. I see teachers retiring around me this year with heavy hearts. They feel they are leaving a system that is in decline. In some cases, cynicism is creeping in with the general doom and gloom.

SUNDAY

Time for a break. A bit of gardening and then driving my teenage daughters around to their appointments. Gave my eldest a driving lesson. I learned from my father to say nothing while the car is in motion. Not easy, mind.

Last touch to my speech and then a reading session with my six-year-old son. Aliens love Underpants. He could “read” it to me – he knows it off by heart.

THIS WEEK I WAS

LISTENING TO

The Irish Voice: Ireland on the Radio

WATCHING

The Guard

BROWSING

2011 census data; US websites for news on the Republican primaries

READING

Eight Forces for Leaders of Changeby Michael Fullan. On a lighter note, I am reading Aliens Love Underpantsto my six-year-old son.