Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is mór an onóir dom seans a fháil a bheith páirteach sa díospóireacht seo anocht. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste agus le Teachta O'Loughlin as ucht an obair atá déanta acu. Gabhaim buíochas lena lán daoine eile freisin. I wish to thank many people, like the voluntary church bodies, the voluntary boards of management, the voluntary parents' committees and the voluntary labour that is done in many schools, not to mention special needs assistants, school secretaries, caretakers and the teachers and principals who run our schools. The late Paddy Crosbie used to say, "The school around the corner's still the same." The school around the corner cannot be the same. As somebody who spent 35 years as a primary teacher and 23 or 24 of them as principal, I am acutely aware that the change has not happened in the way or at the pace it should.

Any CEO of any complex organisation is the person chiefly responsible for the smooth running of that organisation. His or her responsibilities include things common to all businesses of any size in making sure everything runs smoothly. To give just three examples, in any organisation the staff must be kept motivated and kept up to date with professional development, financial backers must be assured their money is being spent wisely and the board of directors must have evidence that all professional, legal and other requirements are being met. School principals are no more or no less than the CEO of complex organisations of varying sizes. Every school principal works under the requirements I have just listed and the many others that every CEO is acutely aware of, as indeed they should be. However, schools are different from other businesses, because of two stakeholders that do not exist in many other organisations, namely, the children who attend the school and their parents.

Most of us have used the line "they are all different" when talking about our own children, because it is true. Every single child sitting in front of a teacher, often in classes of more than 30 as the Minister knows, has his or her own complex needs. They are complex little beings. They have different abilities, different home circumstances, different hopes, different fears, different aspirations and different levels of self-esteem. Indeed many of them live in different little worlds. The teacher's primary job is, of course, to lead them in their understanding of literacy, maths, languages, science and all the other areas of the curriculum, but there is so much more to it than that. Children have to be developed as part of our society. School is where they learn to interact with others, where they learn concepts like taking turns, decision making and considering the needs of others as well as themselves. School is where children develop as people. It is where we all made our first friends, and possibly our first experience with those who were not so friendly. It is where we had many of our first successful endeavours, and maybe some that were not so successful. Our experience in school played a large part in making us the people we are. One of the most important factors in that experience were the teachers we met along the way.

Teaching is a very complex profession. A teacher is primarily responsible for all the aspects of children's development that I have just mentioned. It is also a very unpredictable job. Every day, sometimes every minute of the day, is completely different. Teachers literally do not know what is going to happen next, so they have to be able to deal with whatever comes at them. Let us now consider teaching principals. To all intents and purposes, they are doing two jobs at the same time. They have all the requirements and responsibilities of teaching a class and helping the children they teach to become the best they can be. Simultaneously, they must fulfil their CEO role, making sure that the administration of the school runs effectively and efficiently. It is like asking someone to manage a garage while spending their day under the bonnet. If the Minister thinks I exaggerate, he might consider this. In any given hour in any school in Ireland a teaching principal has to deal with situations such as a phone call from a parent whose child is upset; possibly a phone call from Tusla; a child who has a sudden and unexplained headache; a child who wants to know the Irish for climate change; a grandmother dropping off a lunch; a toilet that will not flush or indeed a toilet that will not stop flushing; the large dog that is running around the yard; a man selling posters or a lady looking to sell computer software. Most importantly of all, the same teaching principal has a class or classes that are his or her primary responsibility and should not be deprived of that teacher's complete attention for one minute.

I am calling for the urgent enactment of the recommendations of the education committee; adequate funding for the day-to-day running of our schools; and additional supports to maintain and expand green spaces thereby providing every child with adequate access to PE; and that the Department must liaise with other Departments and State agencies to secure land around schools for that type of use. We need more supports for staff in small schools and supports for parents in respect of back to school costs. The notion of free education is a myth and must be addressed. Capitation must return to 2010 levels. Any analysis of any small school will show that when the insurance, heating, lighting and oil are paid for the parents have to pay for the rest. The funding for the school building programme needs to be increased. In my area I am trying to help three schools which have been refused funding under the summer works programme. One school has asbestos, another has a front door that will neither open nor close on occasions and cannot even be locked. It needs those funds and I call on the Minister to address that immediately.

Proper forward planning for access to schools is dear to my heart particularly for children with disabilities. We know that in many instances, oftentimes from birth, that if proper planning is done for the child who is going to attend that local school the facilities will be in place long before they go there. I have spoken already about the workload of the teachers and the primary school principals particularly. Pay equality issues need to be resolved and the unhappiness and feeling of inequality in lower paid teachers in conjunction with the stress felt by principals in leadership roles means that the system is being squeezed to the detriment of the children and everyone in the school community.

I have read reports from the National Principals Forum and the Irish Primary Principals' Network, IPPN, and there are serious complaints about the lack of engagement on the part of the Department when support is sought. The rate of dissemination of circulars and initiatives is far too fast. The response received to queries is normally a standard response, failing to address the unique query posed. The quality of leadership in schools impacts directly on the quality of education the pupils receive. School principals must have their issues addressed and the funding issues must be addressed immediately. The undervaluing of primary education must not be allowed continue as this will impact on the overall education system with a consequent high cost to the Exchequer. How has the Minister helped our teaching principals to cope with these workloads? He has reduced the hours in which they have access to a secretary and a caretaker. He has smothered them with initiatives and directives, ignored their stories of work overload and burn-out, and their call to be given just a little more time away from teaching duties so that they can cope, to the benefit of both themselves and their classes. The Department needs to pay serious heed to this report.

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