Schools will not make up lost days, says department

SCHOOLS WILL not be obliged to make up the number of days lost due to closures during the extended cold spell, the Department of Education has indicated.

While they should make all reasonable efforts to make up for lost time, it was accepted there were practical considerations for boards of management when making decisions on closures, the department said yesterday.

It said it would “abate the minimum yearly requirement” where closures were exceptional and where it was not possible to achieve the required days over the remainder of the school year.

Schools are normally required to open for a minimum of 183 days at primary level and 167 days at post-primary level.

Hundreds of schools around the country have been closed this week due to severe weather conditions, some for as long as five days.

Primary and secondary schools in Donegal, Dublin, Louth, Meath, Galway, Wexford and Waterford were among the worst affected while only a few were forced to close in Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Mayo.

Decisions to close are generally taken by principals in consultation with boards of management, although last winter the department directed the school closures because of the weather.

Yesterday, the department said it would be leaving that decision to individual boards of management.

Boards should consider issues including access and safety when making their decisions and should co-ordinate their approach with other schools in the locality where feasible.

National Parents Council chief executive Áine Lynch said schools should ensure they take decisions around making up for “lost learning” in conjunction with parents. She said the council was usually told that fitting in the entire curriculum was difficult, so if school days had been missed it must make that incredibly difficult.

“If the curriculum is very overloaded and if time is the issue, then losing days will affect that,” she said.

Ms Lynch also said the council was hearing more than any year that communication between schools and parents had greatly improved, with text messages alerting parents to closures making “a huge difference”.

Peter Mullen, spokesman for the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, said schools would focus on ensuring they covered the curriculum, rather than on time when addressing the consequences of lost days.

He also said the decision to close was a “judgment call” made at local level.

Moreover, he added that it was unfair for parents to criticise such decisions, which were taken in good faith and with the best interests of children at heart.

Bernie Ruane, president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, also said schools would ensure curriculums were covered. Although days might not be officially recouped, individual arrangements could be made to give extra classes and activity days could be delivered as school days. Last year similar problems had been encountered and there had been “no disimprovement in results”, she added.