Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the principal officers. What does an ideal school environment look like? It is a question I have posed to a number of the witnesses who have presented to us, particularly principals. Can the Department officials name a perfect pilot school or one which they would say is a great environment where the principals, teachers, parents and the board of management are tackling bullying in a very positive way? Is there a school which is very transparent, accountable and very open, where the victims, the perpetrators, the bystanders and all those elements are included? What might that look like?

Second, we have had a number of witnesses who have talked about further training for career guidance teachers and for teachers and indeed Mr. Joyce spoke about the Professional Development Service for Teachers, PDST. However, the information we were getting back from principals is that teachers do not feel they have the tools or the skill set to identify bullying. It seems to be cropping up that either the training is not reaching them or being effective or that somehow it is not working on the ground in the classroom. I want to ask about that.

In summary then, what is the officials' ideal anti-bullying model which they would want to see working across all schools in Ireland? Perhaps there would be difference between primary and second levels.